Obgamed  CmtiMiiin 

BIEELANB  HATT  EETCDIH  * 


S.  /7.  2o  . 

LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

Presented  by  H^nS-cX^P  iX<S,-VcV\<7vnn  . 


BX   8    .K48  1908 

Ketcham,    Kneeland  Piatt. 

Organized  Christianity 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2015 

https://archive.org/details/organizedchristiOOketc_0 


MaR  1  7  1920 


Organized  Christiamlf^^ 

OR 

NEW  TESTAMENT  UNITY  DEMANDED 
AND  FEASIBLE  IN  THE 
TWENTIETH  CENTURY 


BY  ^ 

REV.  KNEELAND  PLATT  KETCHAM 


"7i?  hear  the  Bridegroom's  voiceP 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  AUTHOR 
337  West  23RD  Street 
New  York 
.  1908 


Copyright.  1908,  by 
REV.  K.  F.  KETCHAM 


VAN'  RbES  PRESS.  24  AND  26  VANDEWATER  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 


Organized  Christianity 


CHAPTER  I 

What  is  the  matter  with  the  Protestant  and 
Evang-elical  Churches  of  the  twentieth  century? 

One  thing  is  certain ;  there  is  an  evident, 
widespread,  profound  disappointment  in  tlie 
spiritual  developments  of  the  last  seven  years. 
The  "Great  Awakening"  is  indefinitely  post- 
poned, the  "Forward  Movement"  halts,  and  in 
this  autumn  of  nineteen  hundred  and  seven 
there  is  an  ominous  hush — a  pervading  sense  of 
uncertainty  and  perplexity  with  no  inspiration 
of  intelligent  hope  from  the  past,  and  no  prom- 
ise of  intelligent  hope  from  the  future.  It  is 
as  if  the  disciples  had  toiled  all  the  night  and 
taken  nothing,  and  then  when  the  morning  was 
now  come  and  they  were  weary,  dreary  and 
I 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


hungry,  there  was  no  cheering',  assuring-  voice 
of  the  Master,  "Cast  the  net  on  the  right  side 
of  the  ship  and  ye  shall  find." 

At  the  opening  of  the  century,  men  said, 
"The  Kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand ;  tlie  entire 
world  at  last  awaits  the  messenger  of  redemp- 
tion— Heaven  as  always  with  its  truth  and 
grace,  earth  as  never  before,  with  its  contribu- 
tions of  thought  and  all  facilities,  proffer  bound- 
less resources  and  afford  boundless  encourage- 
ment." 

And  necessity  as  well  as  opportunity,  demand 
as  well  as  supph\  were  conspicuously  evident. 
Japan,  China  and  other  non-Christian  nations 
were  not  only  in  sin  and  misery  as  ever  before, 
but  were  passing  all  determining  crises  of  their 
political  and  religious  life.  \\"\th  them  at  last, 
"one  day"  of  present  opportunity  was  as  "a 
thousand  years."  Moreover,  necessity  was  upon 
the  Church  from  within.  Educated  young  men 
to  an  astounding  degree  turned  aside  from  the 
ministry.    Rationalism  was  emasculating  her 

2 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


creeds.  Destructive  criticism  was  discrediting 
her  Sacred  Book.  Church  members  were  pre- 
vaiHngly  worldly  and  not  unfrequently  ras- 
cally. Her  pulpits  in  general  had  lost  power  in 
Church  and  world  alike. 

And  the  darkness  over  Church  and  world 
alike,  that  could  be  felt,  was  felt  and  reckoned 
upon  as  at  once  demanding  and  presaging  the 
dawn — the  morning  dawn  of  brighter  things — ■ 
even  the  "Great  Twentieth  Century  Revival !" 
Nor  were  there  lacking  men  and  measures, 
leaders  and  schemes  for  its  realization. 

In  the  fall  of  1900.  Mr.  William  Phillips 
Hall  (partly  in  the  name  of  what  Mr.  Moody 
was  supposed  to  intend  to  do),  with  others, 
having  indeed  religious  fervor  and  evangelical 
ideas  and  business  energy  and  methods  and 
highly  confident  predictions  (yet  on  the  fatal 
basis  of  "existing  organizations"),  notoriously 
failed  of  any  "twentieth  century"  success. 

J.  Wilbur  Chapman  followed  with  unlimited 
financial  support,  General  Assembly  patronage, 
.  3 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

thorough  organization,  untiring  energy.  And 
then  W".  J.  Dawson,  of  London,  with  his  "cul- 
ture," and  R.  A.  Torrey  with  his  Bible  sound- 
ness and  se^•erity  and  zeal,  and  next  Gii)sv 
Smith,  with  gospel  truth  and  exciting-  power, 
calling  saints  antl  sinners  to  "listen."  These 
indeed  did  not  "labor  in  vain  in  the  Lord,"  but 
they  did  conspicuously  fail  to  organize  the 
exodus  and  lead  Israel  out  of  Egypt. 

Upon  all  of  which  the  Rain's  Horn  signifi- 
cantly comments  :  "An  apostasy  or  a  revival ! 
That  is  the  alternative  which  the  Christian 
Church  is  facing.  For  nearly  twenty  years  we 
have  been  marking  time,  but  we  have  not  been 
making  progress.  True,  we  have  been  adding 
wealth  and  numbers,  but  we  have  not  been  gain- 
ing power.  Sporadic  revivals  break  out  in 
places,  but  evangelism  docs  not  spread  like  a 
holy  contagion.  There- is  no  use  l)linki!ig  facts. 
Conditions  are  serious.  But  they  are  excep- 
tional. Compared  with  those  of  some  previous 
j  eriods  they  are  discouraging,  but  compared 
4 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


with  other  epochs  they  appear  far  from 
hopeless.  The  march  of  the  Kingdom 
seems  to  be  measured  by  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the 
spiritual  tide.  To-day  the  tide  is  low.  It  has 
been  falling  steadily  since  the  stirring  days  of 
Dwight  L.  Moody.  There  are  many  signs  that 
low-water  mark  has  been  registered,  and  that 
henceforth  we  will  see  a  rising  flood.  God  is 
calling  the  Church  and  indix-idual  Christians  to 
higher  walks  of  faith  and  duty.  It  must  be 
either  advance  or  apostasy.  We  cannot  stand 
.still." 

.And  listen  to  Congregational  testimony: 
"Therefore  there  comes  to-day  a  nughty  call 
to  the  Church  to  save  the  life  of  the  nation  in 
saving  its  own  life.  Of  the  seriousness  of  this 
juncture  there  can  be  no  question.  I  am  con- 
tent to  be  called  an  alarmist  if  you  will.  There 
are  times  when  the  watchman  must  blow  the 
*rum])et  and  warn  the  people.  I  believe  that 
my  habit  is  sufticicntly  optimistic,  but  optimism 
is  treachery.  It  is  not  well  with  the  Church 
■  5 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

this  day;  it  is  ill  with  the  Church.  Her  grip 
is  loosening,  her  energies  are  flagging ;  there  is 
a  perceptible  slackening  in  her  progress.  Some- 
thing is  wrong  and  every  thoughtful  man 
knows  it.  Something  is  wrong  with  our  evan- 
gelism. \Miatisit?  Is  it  the  higher  criticism 
and  the  new  theology?  Read  Dr.  Brown's 
sober,  searching,  candid  review  of  the  Chapman 
meetings  in  Oakland :  'All  the  churches,  of 
every  name,  cooperated  most  cordially.  These 
churches  were  crowded  (with  church  members) 
every  day  for  weeks;  the  theology  of  all  the 
preaching  was  above  suspicion  ;  the  higher  criti- 
cism was  put  to  shame,  and  sociology  was  not 
so  much  as  mentioned ;  but  the  great  outside 
multitude,  the  multitude  of  the  unchurched,  was 
practically  untouched.'  " 

And  here  is  Episcopal  testimony :    "I  am  in 
favor  of  a  change.    I  do  not  know  what  is  the 
best  way  of  doing  things  in  the  churches,  but 
I  know  the  way  we  are  doing  now  is  not  the 
6 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

best  way,  or  the  world  would  be  nearer  its 
salvation  than  it  seems  to  be." 

And  the  Presbyterian  :  "Now  to  Ije  wholly 
frank  in  so  momentous  a  matter,  in  the  present 
attitude  and  aim  and  effort  of  the  ministry  there 
is  not  even  a  shadow  of  hope  for  the  lost  world 
of  this  generation,  even  if  there  be  for  any  of 
the  next  ten  generations.  The  awful  outlook 
of  a  thousand  millions  of  the  human  race  pass- 
ing on  to  hopeless  death,  has  the  dreadful  prom- 
ise of  being  monotoncJusly  repeated  with  each 
successive  generation,  away  into  the  indefinite 
future!  Is  not  this  the  real  state  of  the  case? 
And  if  so,  is  it  not  high  time  to  'awake  out  of 
sleep' — this  sleep  of  death?  If  God's  work  is 
to  go  forward  at  the  pace  set  for  it  by  Christ 
in  the  great  Commission  and  by  the  'signs  of 
the  times,'  the  impulse  must  be  given  by  a 
mighty  and  complete  transformation  of  the  life 
and  conception  and  purpose  and  work  of  the 
ministry.  Is  not  that  patent  to  every  one  who 
•  7 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


has  breadth  enough  of  spiritual  vision  to  take 
in  the  present  conditions  and  needs  ? ' 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century  it  seemed 
to  the  writer  so  evident  that  an  epoch  of 
supreme  transition  was  at  hand — and  that  of 
the  "Hosts  of  Christ's  Triumphal  March,  for 
which  alone."  as  Dante  says,  "these  spheres 
have  rolled  and  reap  their  harvests" — that  of 
these  hosts,  the  unseen,  the  invisible,  the  celes- 
tial division  was  in  fact  already  marching  on, 
and  that  God  was  imperatively  calling  the 
earthly  cohorts  to  fall  in  line  and  to  fall  in  line 
according  to  His  own  Xew  Testament  plan  of 
campaign,  that  he  published  in  the  Xew  York 
Tribune  of  January  7.  1901.  the  following  pro- 
test: 

"To  the  Editor  of  the  Tribune. 

Sir :    Can  you  put  me  forth  a  little  space 
in  which  to  suggest  some  elemental  considera- 
tions to  William  Phillips  Hall  and  his  coadju- 
tors in  their  most  praiseworthy  plan  for  a  dcep- 
8 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


er  religious  life  on  the  part  of  all  of  us  for 
the  twentieth  century? 

First — Where  the  divine  and  human  are  at 
all  in  rivalry,  the  human — as  we  all  theoretically 
admit — must  unconditionally  surrender,  and 
wherein  God's  Christianity  and  man's  Church 
are  in  competition  the  Church  must  give  way 
or  he  hrought  to  confusion,  and  'her  candlestick 
removed  out  of  its  place'  sooner  or  later. 

Second — According  to  the  Bible,  and,  in- 
deed, the  guileless  honesty  of  all  Christian  pray- 
ers, men,  singly  or  organically,  are  'earthen 
vessels,'  and  until  first  of  all  and  unqualifiedly 
polarized,  in  thought,  heart,  plans,  associations 
to  Jesus  Christ,  in  supreme  aims,  and  to  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  supreme  applications  and  de- 
j;en(leuce.  are  doomed  to  paralysis,  blundering, 
failure. 

Third — The  Apostolic  Christians  rose  from 
utlcr  weakness  to  world-wide  power,  from  ig- 
norance and  feebleness  to  the  conrpiest  of  hu- 
manity in  all  its  extent  and  variety  outward, 
.  9 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


and  its  depravity  downward,  in  setting  aside 
everything  of  creeds  or  ritualistic  ceremonials 
or  formulations  of  organization,  until  each  and 
all,  with  a  glowing  passion  of  enthusiasm,  had 
accepted  Christ  in  His  love  and  His  law,  as  'the 
Head  of  all  things  to  the  Church,'  'in  whom 
all  fullness  dwelt,'  and  experienced  accordingly 
the  all  corrective,  all  restraining,  all  constrain- 
ing enchantment  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Their 
Bible,  like  our  Bible,  mentioned  fasting,  Sab- 
bath observance,  ordinations,  baptism,  the 
Lord's  Supper,  but  with  not  a  word  of  primary 
and  absolute  legislation  as  to  any  particulars  of 
any  of  them,  and  to  this  end,  that  these  might 
take  their  place  duly  in  and  after  organization 
before  the  all  preeminent  Christ,  and  with  all 
the  infinite  advantages  in  the  determining  and 
administration  of  them,  that  the  Spirit  of  God 
would  subsequently  and  consequently  give. 

This  the  early  and  victorious  Christians 
fully  understood  and  observed,  and  we,  too, 
understand  and  observe  it  in  part,  and  suffi- 

lO 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

ciently  to  condemn  ourselves  before  earth  and 
heaven  in  that  we  do  not  altogether  accept  it 
as  the  Apostles  did.  We  are  saying:  'Let  us 
rise  to  New  Testament  conceptions  of  Christ 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  promise,  the  law, 
the  liberty  of  them,  and  so  organized  let  us  then 
determine  as  to  our  Church  fasting  and  prayers 
and  praises  and  giving  and  Sabbath  observance, 
and  all  sorts  of  particulars  as  to  rites  and 
creeds.  Yet  now,  after  all.  let  us  keep  hack 
part  of  the  price,  let  us  have  some  reserva- 
tions, let  us  hold  back  and  organize  around 
something  for  our  own  human  glory  and  grati- 
fication, the  celebration  of  our  own  opinions 
and  convictions,  aside  from  and  below  the 
heavenly  heights  of  Christ  and  the  Head.' 

So  the  Presbyterian  says :  'My  creed,  my 
standards  first!'  And  the  Baptist  says:  'No 
creed  but  the  Bible!  Yet  not  after  all  entirely 
— not  entirely  the  Bible  i)lan  of  Christ,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost  first,  and  then  ordinances — but  let 
us  have  one  e.xception,  the  mode  and  subjects 
1 1 


O RG A N 1 Z ED  C H  R I STI A N I T Y 


of  Baptism,  first,  and  then  Christ  and  the  Holy- 
Ghost  !'  And,  correspondingly,  other  sectarians 
make  exceptions  and  insist  on  some  rituahstic 
or  historic  or  dogmatic  name  to  he  put  in  be- 
fore 'the  Name'  which,  by  God's  unalterable 
and  eternal  decree,  is,  for  truth  and  rite  and 
life  and  organization  of  earth,  and  for  heaven 
beyond,  'above  every  name.' 

And  as  a  result  of  all  this  we  see,  for  in- 
stance, in  Presbyterian  pulpits  and  at  Baptist 
communion  tables,  men  freely  accepted  who 
openly  confess  that  they  have  no  passion  of 
heart  or  thought  for  Christ,  and  no  imploring 
eagerness  for  the  Holy  Spirit's  ministries,  and 
men  rejected  of  whom,  in  their  quadration  of 
quest  and  love  and  faith  and  zeal,  as  God  l.as 
appointed  these,  'the  world  is  not  worthy !' 

Fourth — As  far  as  appears.  God  cares  very 
little  for  terrestrial,  low-down,  far-off  'unity.' 
What  the  New  Testament  and  the  present 
higher  socialism,  and  thoughtful  philosophers 
of  humanity,  and  government  commissioners 

12 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

and  anny  and  navy  commanders,  returning 
from  heathen  lands,  and  the  awakening  heathen 
themselves  demand,  is  a  general  and  unquali- 
fied rallying  of  Christians  around  and  for  genu- 
ine Christianity — around  and  for  the  lonely, 
hut  all  accessible  Height  of  Christ,  where  God 
meets  men ! 

Gentlemen  of  the  twentieth  century  evan- 
gelism, you  have  your  work  cut  out  for  you 
already.  For  a  Christianity  of  power,  for  the 
fellowship  of  God's  children,  and  the  confession 
of  Christ  before  men  and  the  plans  and  organ- 
ization of  redemption  work  which  belong  to 
Christianity — Christ  first,  and  everything  after ! 
Until  you  reach  His  height,  failure  is  yours, 
and  what  is  more,  when  you  have  gained  that 
strategic,  that  sacred,  that  all  commanding 
acropolis,  you  will  have  no  time  or  energies  or 
appetite  for — as,  indeed,  you  will  have  no  need 
for — any  subordinate  or  rival  station  below. 

The  twentieth  century  preacher,  in  his 
closet  and  his  study,  consumed  in  prayers  to 
13 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

God  and  thoughts  for  God  and  man,  and  the 
twentieth  century  layman  'laying  aside  every 
weight'  as  he  'rvms"  and  'looks.'  will  thus  'find' 
his  'life,'  and  the  Church  her  organization,  her 
development,  her  mission,  her  'joy  and  crown,' 
and  thus,  fully  satisfied  at  last — how,  how  have 
all  heen  straitened  ihitil  this  was  accomplished ! 
From  all  directions  of  earth  and  heaven  the  one 
call  is  for  God's  Christianity.  Shall  we  hear 
it?" 

Yes,  and  from  earth  and  heaven  shall  we 
hear,  if  we  have  ears  to  hear,  not  only  the  call 
for  God's  Christianity,  hut  as  well,  definite  and 
indeed  revolutionary  specifications  under  the 
call. 

This  explains  the  unique  and  illuminating 
career  of  Dwight  L.  Moody  and  in  this  "he 
being  dead  yet  speaketh,"  and  to  a  degree  prob- 
ably not  at  all  fully  appreciated  even  by  his  own 
children. 

Not  since  the  days  of  the  apostles  has  a  man 
14 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


anywhere  on  this  planet  been  more  clearly  en- 
dorsed of  heaven  and  believed  in  by  men,  as 
God's  messenger,  than  he.  Whether  weighed 
in  the  balances  of  a  city  reporter  or  a  humble 
pastor,  or  a  cultured  thinker,  or  Catholic  in 
Ireland,  or  prelate  in  England,  or  "double  dis- 
tilled" Presbyterian  in  Scotland,  or  sailor  on 
the  sea,  or  soldier  on  the  main,  or  any  critical 
men  of  church  or  world  in  his  own  land,  the 
one  reverent  verdict  upon  his  work  has  been  : 
"This  is  the  finger  of  God" ;  and  upon  himself : 
"He  is  right  with  God." 

And  now  all  this  in  what  peculiar  and  sig- 
nificant twentieth  century  interpretations  from 
the  Heavenly  Headquarters  ?    These  : 

1.  That  spiritual  power  e.xperienced  or  trans- 
mitted is  not  C(jnfined  to  the  highly  organized, 
historic  Churches. 

2.  That  these  have  no  advantage  whatever 
in  the  operations  of  God-given  power. 

3.  In  the  events  and  experiments  of  the 
Churches  since  his  day.  the  revolutionary  and 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


startling  lesson  that  divine  power,  in  the  ap- 
pointed measvire  and  conquests  of  it,  will  be 
denied  to  persons  and  establishments,  in  any 
marked  degree  diverging  from  Mr.  Moody's 
evidently  New  Testament  spirit  and  Christo- 
centric  ideals — that  the  one  coming  hope  of  the 
Church  and  of  humanity  is  in  Christianity  as 
discriminated  from  "Churchianity"  and  in  an 
evangelical  creed  as  distingiiished  from  denomi- 
national "standards."" 

The  shechinah  voice  of  Israel  in  the  wilder- 
ness to-day  is,  "Them  that  honor  ]\Ie.  I  will 
honor."  and  "You  have  got  to  confess  Christ 
before  men !" 

And  there  are  other  handwritings  on  the  wall 
of  the  ecclesiastical  palace.  Twenty  years  ago 
the  sectarians  were  served  with  eviction  notices 
in  the  providential  discovery  of  the  "Teaching 
of  tlie  Apostles."  In  this  Baptists  were  noti- 
fied that  baptism  by  immersion  only  was  really 
unscriptural :  Presbyterians  that  infant  baptism, 
and  teaching,  as  distinguished  from  ruling 
i6 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


elders,  had  no  scriptural  support ;  and  Episco- 
palians that  the  three  orders  of  Bishop,  Priest 
and  Deacon  were  un.authorized.  Nevertheless, 
as  it  is  most  edifying  to  observe  as  a  new  il- 
lustration of  the  familiar  fact  that,  as  Herbert 
Spencer  says,  "organizations  are  rarely  re- 
formed from  the  inside."  during  all  the  twen- 
ty years  these  significant  warnings  of  coming 
dispossession  have  been  unanimously  and  studi- 
ously ignored  by  all  the  denominationalists. 
Said  the  small  boy,  reminded  by  the  nurse  of 
his  mother's  unwelcome  order,  ''Stop  "minding 
me,  I's  trying  to  forget  it." 

And  in  more  recent  days  the  divine  "rising  up 
early  and  speaking"  in  these  respects,  has  been 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  publications  of  up- 
to-date  and  thorough-going  scholars — Rudolph 
Sohni  for  example.  It  is  scarcely  conceivable 
that  any  intelligent  mind-free  man  could  read 
Sohm's  "The  Church  and  Its  Origin  in 
Primitive  and  Catholic  Times,"  as  interpreted 
by  Walter  Lovvrie,  without  being  satisfied 
17 


I 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


tliat  in  a  New  Testament  organization  of 
Christianity  there  must  be  the  vital  head- 
ship of  Christ  in  the  love  of  God  and 
the  power  and  demonstration  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  at  the  centers,  with  all  matters  of 
rite  and  ceremony,  offices  and  officers,  creed  and 
code,  remanded  to  the  background — the  back- 
ground of  Christian  liberty  and  executive  ex- 
pediency. But  what  manner  of  man  would  the 
minister  be  who  at  tlie  present  day  could  at  all 
accurately  represent  the  New  Testament  per- 
sonality? And  what  the  manner  of  the  modern 
New  Testament  organization  ?  You  would 
probably  detect  a  fairly  accurate  answer  to  the 
first  question  in  a  composite  portrait  of  Dwight 
L.  Moody  and  Richard  S.  Storrs.  and  to  the 
second,  in  a  slightly  extended  and  modified 
"^'oung  Men's  Christian  Association,  as  all  or- 
dained and  marshalled  under  the  banner  in- 
scription. "Bible  principles  to  please  God  and 
business  principles  to  win  men  !" 

It  ought  never  to  be  forgotten,  as  quite  fla- 
i8 


organizp:d  Christianity 

grantly  and  frequently  it  undoubtedly  is,  that 
tha  issues  of  the  present  hour  are  referred  to 
power — not  so  much  light  as  power.  The 
question  of  a  man  just  now  is  not  "Is  he  pre- 
sumably or  possibly  a  Christian?"  but,  "Is  he 
a  Christian  duly  experiencing  and  exerting 
power?"  Says  Herbert  Spencer:  "An  over- 
valuation of  teaching  is  necessarily  a  concomi- 
tant of  this  erroneous  interpretation  of  mind. 
Everywhere  the  cry  is  educate,  educate,  edu- 
cate! Everywhere  tlie  belief  is  that  by  such 
culture  as  scIkxjIs  furnish,  children,  and  there- 
fore adults,  can  be  molded  into  the  desired 
shapes.  It  is  assumed  that  when  men  are 
taught  what  is  right  they  will  do  what  is  right ; 
that  a  proposition  intellectually  accepted  will 
be  morally  operative.  Vet  this  conviction  is 
contradicted  by  every-day  experience."  Yes, 
and  spiritual  facts  correspond  with  this  phi- 
losophy. 

'i'lie  up-to-date  demand  is  not  for  any  ecclesi- 
astical unity  of  Roman  Catholic,  Ei)iscopalian, 
19 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Presbyterian,  Methodist,  Baptist,  Congrega- 
tionalist  and  a  score  of  others,  on  the  basis  of 
a  minimum  of  possible  Christian  experience, 
but  for  organized  unity  on  the  basis  of  New 
Testament  conditions  of  pozvcr.  What  are 
these — and  what  is,  indeed,  New  Testament 
Christianity?  Most  portentous,  delusive  and 
pernicious  are  the  current  replies  given  in  these 
days  by  journals,  such  as  the  Outlook  and  In- 
dependent, and  by  multitudes  of  more  or  less 
"new"  theologians,  to  the  simple  question — 
What  is  Christianity? 


20 


CHAPTER  II 


And  what  is  God's  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity, as  to  ends  and  means  ?  The  first  speci- 
fied end  of  Christian  aims  is  the  exaltation  of 
Jesus  Christ.  As  to  this  jjoint,  to  he  sure,  analy- 
sis fails,  and  Christ  as  "All  and  in  all,"  in  the 
first  stages,  preempts  the  entire  domain  of  a 
Christian's  activities,  as  at  once  end  and  means. 
"For  Him  are  all  things,  by  Him  are  all 
things."  God,  indeed,  has  not  been  pleased  to 
declare  to  us  the  philosophy  of  the  matter- — the 
reasons  why  Christ  "having  humbled  Himself 
and  become  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death 
of  the  Cross,  wherefore  God  also  hath  highly 
e.xalted  Him  and  given  Him  a  name  which  is 
above  every  name,"  but  the  revelations  of  the 
fact  glow  with  celestial  radiance  in  gospels  and 
epistles  alike,  and  with   ineffable  reflections 

21 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

from  the  bright  world  of  which,  in  the  "glory 
of  God,"  the  record  is,  "the  Lamb  is  the  light 
thereof,"  and  from  art  and  music  and  philoso- 
phy and  poetry  and  history — ^as  well  as  piety 
and  hymnology,  of  "this  present  evil  world." 

The  first  great  constraint  upon  a  Christian 
as  to  his  sonship  or  his  discipleship,  is  to  follozu 
Christ.  This  was  the  primal  law  of  discipleship 
when  He  was  upon  the  earth,  and  it  is  the 
same  now.  The  present  "follow  me"  from  the 
celestial  shores  is  just  as  plain  as  the  "follow 
me"  of  the  shores  of  Galilee  and  means  the 
same:  humble,  penitential,  absolute  subordina- 
tion, the  most  unqualified,  enthusiastic,  passion- 
ate, joyful  devotion,  the  most  unquestioning 
and  reposeful  confidence,  in  childlike  depend- 
ence, and  the  most  hallowed  and  affectionate 
and  all  constraining  and  all  contributive  per- 
sonal intimacy,  and  ever  more  and  more,  exact 
imitation  in  character,  speech,  action.  St.  Paul, 
so  eagerly  polarized  for  highest,  noblest  aims, 
records  "in  Christ"  thirty-three  times. 

22 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Says  Dr.  Robert  F.  Co  vie,  speaking  for  thou- 
sands of  his  fellow  Christians,  Presbyterian 
and  otherwise,  and  unconsciously  portraying 
si)iritual  campaigns:  "To  be  a  Christian  is 
first  and  last  and  midst,  a  personal  relation  to 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Love  for  Ilim.  devo- 
tion to  Him,  enthronement  of  Him  in  the  af- 
fections, in  the  will,  in  the  whole  life — that  is 
what  it  means.  It  is  the  union  of  my  soul,  your 
soul  with  Christ,  as  the  branch  is  in  the  vine 
and  the  vine  in  the  branch.  .\11  other  questions 
are  subsidiary  and  unessential ;  this  personal  re- 
lationship is  vital  and  fundamental.  .  .  .  That 
is  what  it  is  to  be  a  Christian,  to  be  loyally, 
devotedly,  unalterably  attached  to  Christ.  Be- 
gin there  and  everything  else  will  take  care  of 
itself.  ]])octrines  and  creeds  will  fall  into  their 
proj.cr  ])laces,  morality  will  be  shot  through 
and  tlirougli  with  life,  and  con\ersion  will  Ix.'  a 
matter  of  daily  occurrence,  a  daily  pledge  of 
fealty  to  Jesus." 

P<ut  an  interesting  practical  question  emerges 
-'3 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


at  this  point.  Are  Dr.  Coyle  and  his  fellow 
Presbyterians,  and  fellow  Christians  generr.lly, 
executively  consistent?  Have  they  attained  or 
are  they  striving  to  attain,  an  organic  realiza- 
tion of  Christianity  on  this,  their  own  basis — 
according  to  their  own  concessions — in  the  line 
of  the  New  Testament  and  experimental  prin- 
ciples what  they  advocate  ? 

At  the  conclusion  of  a  thoughtful  article  on 
"Federation,"  in  1902,  Dr.  Daniel  H.  Evans 
says:  "My  own  personal  conclusion  is  that 
God  is  exercising  over  the  varied  parts  of  His 
beloved  Church,  a  kind  and  impartial  super- 
vision; and  that,  with  a  view  to  fulfill  His  de- 
sire for  the  paramount  object  of  saving  the 
world  by  His  Spirit,  He  is  drawing  His  peo- 
ple into  tender  sympathy  and  active  coopera- 
tion;  tliat  in  the  divine  process  of  evolution,  we 
have  reached  the  stage  of  federation,  and  that 
the  growth  of  a  widespread  siiiritual  life  from 
within  will  ultimately  compel  the  devoutly  to- 
be-wished  consummation  of  a  real  hearty  and 
^4 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

holy  orgotiic  union  of  the  Church  of  our  Lord 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  And  at  the  open- 
ing he  remarks :  "\\'e  are  not.  in  connection 
with  this  topic,  to  consider  wliat  was  the  origi- 
nal condition  and  the  divine  intention ;  for  at 
first  tlie  Church  was  one  and  our  Lord  prayed 
for  the  unity  of  its  members.  Xor  are  we  to 
dwell  upon  the  Kingdom  of  God  as  it  shall  shine 
in  the  light  of  the  millennial  glory :  for  that 
union  will  then  characterize  the  Church.  I  think 
all  will  allow.  But  at  present,  with  things  as 
they  are.  is  union  practical  or  even  possible? 

We  remember  that  denominational  differ- 
ences by  lapse  of  time  have  been  strengthened 
into  traditions,  and  that  they  are  fortified  by 
conscientious  interpretations  of  Scripture.  The 
varying  shades  of  theolog}-  are  as  fixed  as  the 
inborn  temperament  of  men.  There  is  besides 
a  wide  range  of  taste  as  to  modes  of  worship 
which  cannot  he  changed  in  a  day.  There  is 
cn  the  other  hand,  however,  a  practical  possi- 
bility for  the  gathering  of  religious  forces  in 
.  25 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITV 


behalf  of  evangelical  work  and  moral  reform 
and  civic  regeneration." 

But  why  is  there  this  "practical  possibility" 
for  federation  and  not  for  all  the  ends  of  Chris- 
tianity by  the  appointed  Xew  Testament  plan 
of  organization  ?  Because,  as  here  in  fact  con- 
ceded, of  men's  multiform  obstinacy  in  "de- 
nominational dififerences,"  which  appear  in 
countless  "traditions"  and  "interpretations"  and 
"shades  of  theology^"  and  "tastes  as  to  modes  of 
worship."  All  which  duly  interpreted  means 
that  God  is  indeed  now  calling  upcn  His  chil- 
dren to  unite,  to  organize  before  and  for  Jesus 
Christ,  but  that  from  numberless  biases  and 
habits  of  religio-intellectual  self-gratification, 
they  refuse  the  Saviour's  divine  administration 
of  spiritual  and  practical  headship,  and  do  as 
they  please. 

And  are  not  Doctors  Coyle  and  Evans  to- 
gether unconsciously  charging  their  orthodox 
and  Trinitarian  brethren  with  an  offence  close- 
ly corresponding  to  Unitarianism  ?  Yea,  verily, 
26 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

with  a  heterodoxy  more  inveterate  than  that  of 
Unitarians,  who  do  indeed  subordinate  the  all 
divine  Christ  in  the  categories  of  the  Trinity, 
and  degrade  Him  from  His  due  personal  rank 
in  the  Kingdom  of  God  ?  What  have  we  here, 
indeed,  hut  God's  orthodox  children  sulxM'di- 
nating  Christ  to  tlicinsclcrs  in  His  administra- 
tive functions? 

"Organization  ought  to  be  for,  and  before 
Christ  the  Head,"  they  say.  "It  shall  be  for 
and  before  our  denominational  difference,  tra- 
ditions, inlx)rn  temperaments,  tastes  in  wor- 
ship— our  biases  and  self  indulgence."  Uni- 
tarians slight  Christ  in  a  false  pliilosophy ;  these 
in  false,  delusive  self-esteem. 

The  Federation  convention  of  November, 
1905,  shut  the  doors  in  the  face  of  Unitarians, 
while  a  keen  bird's  ear  listening  to  the  proceed- 
ings, first  to  last,  would  have  detected  these 
unconscious  deliverances : 

"1.  God's  children  are  now  peremptorily 
called  to  Ix?  duly  organized  under  Christ's  per- 
27 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


sonal  leadership,  in  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  for  knowledge,  experience,  work.  Or- 
ganic unity  is  now  denianded  by  God's  word 
and  the  present-day  facts. 

2.  They  could  be,  only  the  Christians  have 
intrenched  themselves  in  imposing  institutions, 
vested  interests  and  pride  of  personal  debate 
and  acquired  attachments.  So  organic  unity 
will  be  difficult. 

3.  The  thirty  sets  of  Federators  positively 
refuse  to  forego  themselves  and  accept  God  and 
the  facts,  and  say.  'We  will  enter  no  organiza- 
tion of  Christianity  except  our  thirty  sets  of 
denominational  biases  are  provided  for  first.' 
So  organic  unity  will  be  impossible." 

The  summons  of  the  "Next  Great  Awaken- 
ing" will  be  for  Unitarians  and  Trinitarians 
alike  to  honor  Christ  as  God  has  appointed,  as 
the  first  supreme  objective  of  organized  Chris- 
tian thought,  affection,  activity,  anticipation ! 

The  second  special  end  of  New  Testament 
Christianity  is  development  of  Christian  char-  j 

28  i 

I 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


acter;  a  studied  development,  rapid,  steady, 
comprehensive,  symmetrical :  a  development  of 
mind  in  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  capacity 
for  the  truth ;  of  soul,  in  faith  and  love  mount- 
ing upward,  and  love  and  purposes  pushing  out- 
ward, in  the  hai)py  and  indeed  ecstatic  ex- 
perience of  those  who  are  "pure  in  heart,"  and 
"see  God." 

New  Testament  Christianity  calls  for  persons 
all  aglow  in  the  loveliness,  the  attractions  of 
self-control,  self-sacrifice,  genial  altruism  and 
withal  sunny  speech  from  fresh  and  winning 
thought  showing  forth,  without,  as  projected 
reflections  from  the  transcendent  "beauty  of 
holiness"  within,  and  for  communities  and  as- 
semblies pervaded,  actuated,  sanctified  by  a 
Zeitgeist,  which  is  not  simply  parallel  with  and 
dependent  upon  any  earth-born  spirit  of  the 
times,  but  which  is  due  to  the  educations  and 
inspirations  of  God  Himself! 

The  third  end  of  Christian  aims  is  Christian 
fellowship — the  outreaching  love,  fruitful  and 
29 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

realized  in  mutual  patience,  forgiveness,  char- 
ity, sympathy  and  multiform  helpfulness — with 
fitting  communion  in  and  with  the  Lord,  at  His 
table  and  otherwise,  and  such  speaking  one  to 
another  as  the  Lord,  hearkening,  shall  hear — as 
He  opens  a  "book"  of  gracious  "remembrance" 
and  says,  "They  will  be  mine." 

Fourth,  Christian  work:  Every  Christian  go- 
ing forth  as  an  ambassador  for  Christ,  con- 
straining sinful  and  miserable  men,  near  and 
far,  to  be  "reconciled  to  God" — every  Christian 
constraining  a  fellow  Christian  to  deeper  knowl- 
edge, deeper  spirituality,  deeper  consecration. 
The  Christian  is  indeed  to  abound  in  other- 
worldness  in  his  character  and  prayers,  but 
after  all,  for  just  this — that  he  may  abound  in 
this-worldness  in  his  activities.  His  "life  is 
hid  with  Christ  in  God,"  indeed,  yet  no  Chris- 
tian is  permitted  to  register  himself  as  a  heaven- 
ly absentee  from  earth's  sins  and  sorrows  and 
problems,  moral,  social  and  political.  His  head- 
quarters, his  "heart's  true  home,"  is  in  heaven, 
30 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

but  as  an  excitedly  interested,  busy,  eager  com- 
muter, he  must  regularly  come  to  earth  for  busi- 
ness. His  heart  passion  may  be  above  the 
world — his  hand  passion  must  be  down  here. 

To  quote  from  Dr.  D.  S.  Gregory:  "Who 
tliat  has  made  the  experiment,  has  not  found 
greater  lielp  from  the  intercourse  with  Brain- 
erd  and  McCheyne  and  Hannington — and  just 
because  their  struggle  Godward  was  made  safe 
and  noble  by  their  earnest  life  of  action — than 
from  the  contact  with  the  fascinating  and  in- 
tense, but  narrow,  monkish,  impractical,  Rom- 
ish spirit  of  the  author  of  the  'Imitation  of 
Christ?'  " 

And  says  Dr.  J.  H.  \V.  Stuckenberg:  "The 
true  Church  will  be  reformatory  in  social  mat- 
ters in  exact  pnj])ortion  to  the  depth  and  purity 
and  efficiency  of  its  spirituality.  It  will  be  as 
natui"al  lor  it  to  seek  to  i)romote  economic 
e<iuity,  to  purify  politics,  to  regenerate  institu- 
tions, to  uplift  the  masses,  to  establish  hospi- 
tals, orphan  asylums  and  reformatories  and 
31 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


to  relieve  poverty  and  all  forms  of  misery,  as  it 
is  for  the  sun  to  shine.  These  'works  of  God' 
have  their  warrant  in  the  works  of  Christ  and 
the  apostles,  in  the  deeds  of  the  early  Church, 
in  the  merciful  activity  of  Christians  in  all 
ages,  and  in  the  doctrines  and  spirit  of  the  New 
Testament." 

The  fifth  end  of  New  Testament  Christianity 
is  anticipating  heaven,  which,  however,  like 
happiness,  will  be  reali/^etl  incidentally  and  as 
an  insured  way-side  result  of  due  regard  for 
Christ,  holiness,  unity  and  energetic  activity. 

These,  plainly — according  to  gospels  and 
epistles  alike,  and  the  concurrent  testimony  of 
personal  piety  and  general  Church  history  of 
all  lands  and  all  periods  for  nineteen  hundred 
years — are  the  cuds  of  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity. 

But  what  of  the  means?   Of  course  anybody, 
anything — a  flower,  a  bird,  a  laughing  child,  a 
conceited  scientist  or  self-satisfied  philosopher, 
or  higher  critic,  or  "new"  theologian,  or  a 
32 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

stingy  or  "tainted  money"  rich  man.  or  a  mean 
poor  man,  or  a  bigoted  Churchman,  or  self- 
gratifying  denominationahst.  or  a  prayerless 
and  greedy  churcli  member,  or  indeed  a  godless 
sinner — can  contribute  to  Christianity  on  llic 
circumference.  But  the  life  question,  and  the 
eternal  life  question  is:  What  are  the  appoint- 
ed and  authenticated  agencies — the  means  en- 
dorsed of  God  and  experience  for  appropriate 
poiver — for  Christianity  in  genuine,  character- 
istic, adequate  effectiveness,  at  the  centers? 

And  it  is  to  be  remarked  at  the  outset,  that 
the  secret  of  Christianity  is  not  in  any  knowl- 
edge prior  to,  or  in  rivalry  with,  or  independent 
of  the  inspired  Word  of  God;  nor  any  more  in 
any  dead-level  creed  which,  however  orthodox 
and  comprehensive,  has  no  fitting  recognition 
of  perspective — of  the  facts  and  principles 
which  God  has  made  forex'er  preeminent. 

And  then  positively,  the  secret  of  Christianity 
may  be  epitomized  in  Theism  and  Heroism. 
We  are  sorely  troubled  in  these  days  with 
33 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


atheism  and  egoism.  Men  gently',  timidly  mur- 
mur, "We  believe  in  God  the  Father  Al- 
mighty," and  vociferously  and  confidently 
shout,  "We  believe  in  ourselves!" — and.  as  a 
result,  God  not  honored,  is  consequently  not 
operative. 

But  what  are  the  elements  which  belong  to 
true,  effective  Theism  ?  The  answer  is  :  Due 
regard  for  God's  Word  in  its  divinity,  inspira- 
tion, authority ;  due  regard  for  God's  highly 
exalted  Son  in  his  claims  and  benefactions ;  due 
regard  for  God's  Holy  Spirit  in  his  efficiency — 
and  all,  with  rafliant  hope  indeed,  yet  with  the 
rational  humility,  self-abasement  and  self-sus- 
picion which  the  giiilty  meanness  within,  so  de- 
clared of  God  and  discovered  of  men,  when 
they  have  truly  "found  themselves."  calls  for. 

Nor  in  this  holy  quest  of  life  are  these  ele- 
ments to  be  taken  seriatim,  but  collectively,  like 
several  ingredients  of  one  prescription,  simul- 
taneously and  cooperatively.  The  three-fold 
tlici^m  and  heroism  work  for  life,  not  only  one 
34 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

of  them  sometimes,  but  both  of  them  all  the 
time,  in  every  person  and  every  experience. 
The  Princeton  theological  student  who  at  his 
graduation  declared  that  he  was  less  prepared 
to  preach  when  he  left  than  when  he  came,  il- 
lustrated this.  For  three  years  he  had  l;een  dili- 
gent, hut  fatally  partial.  He  had  assiduously 
studied  his  Bible,  but  forgotten  Christ,  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  activities. 

The  first  of  the  sacred  triad  of  our  life  hopes 
is  God's  Bible — for  light  of  tchat  or  Iwzv  so 
indispensable,  and  on  its  own  premises,  so  all- 
sufficient  and  so  all-exclusive!  And  l)ehol(l  the 
proffered  substitutes  for  it.  Here  is  the  Roman 
Church,  pushing  to  the  front  its  priests  and  rites 
and  side-tracking  the  Bible ;  and  with  what 
spiritual  success?  Let  the  deplorable  mental, 
moral  and  spiritual  paralysis  of  .southern  Italy, 
Spain  and  South  American  Stales  make  an- 
swer. And  then  in  all  ages  outside  the  Church, 
and  in  this  versatile  age  witliin  the  Church,  we 
note  the  rationalistic  exaltation  of  man's  nat- 
.35 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

viral  inborn  "religious  consciousness" — not  to 
be  sure  in  fact  his  thought,  but  his  sentiments, 
not  his  reason,  but  his  impressions,  and  these 
for  first  discrediting  the  Bible,  and  then  as 
furnishing  a  substitute  for  it.  Soon,  however, 
these  to  "perish  with  the  using"  ;  for  when  men 
like  the  prodigal  come  to  themselves,  when  men 
either  as  individuals  or  communities  realize, 
when  the  great  life  exigencies  of  sin  or  grief 
or  duty  or  sickness  or  death  appall,  like  the 
mighty-minded  John  Stuart  Mill,  in  his  unas- 
suaged  anguish  of  bereavement  at  Avignon, 
they  cry  for  higher,  holier  light  than  any  to  be 
found  in  themselves,  or  any  other  men.  Yes, 
this  old  rationalism  in  its  new  guises,  repu- 
diated at  once  by  (kid  and  man.  will  in  any  new 
dawning  of  the  day  or  arising  of  the  day-star, 
vanish  again  from  the  Church,  and,  in  due  sea- 
son, at  last  from  the  earth.  INleaiiwhile  the 
men  of  liberal  thought  have  become  a  spectacle 
to  men  and  angels.  They  boast  complacently 
that  their  science  and  criticisms  have  discred- 
3^> 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAN  I T  Y 

ited  the  divine  authority  of  the  Bible  as  a  vol- 
ume, and  as  to  all  particulars  indeed,  except 
a  few  chosen  ones  endorsed  and  made  authentic 
by  their  own  diversified  vagaries.  So  they  dis- 
card our  Saviour's  divinity,  miraculous  birth 
and  deeds  and  vicarious  death  and  resurrection. 
"But  let  us  now  hold  to  His  ethical  teachings 
and  example — and  perhaps  resurrection,"  they 
are  saying.  By  what  testimony  ?  What  do  we 
kntnv  of  His  words  and  works,  having  no  au- 
thenticated and  reliable  record?  The  lunatic 
who  sawed  ofif  a  branch  on  which  sat  his 
friends,  over  whom  he  gleefully  exulted  as  soon 
to  be  sprawling  in  helpless  discomfiture  below, 
forgot  that  he  sat  on  the  same  branch  and  out- 
side the  saw,  and  soon  was  seen  groveling  in 
the  yery  humiliation  and  discomfiture  which  he 
had  so  cheerfully  predicted  and  provided  for 
the  others.  When  the  Ihhle  is  dispensed  with, 
it  is  totally  gone  in  its  reliability,  and  any 
one  man's  exceptional  si)ecia1ties  of  light 
and  li(jpe  are  gone  with  the  rest,  and  no 
•  37 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


weak  and  fantastic  dreams  of  a  sinful 
and  morally  deranged  man  can  reclaim  them. 
"Let  us  cast  the  Bible  on  the  dust-heap  or  in 
the  waste-basket — l;ut  hold — let  us  each,  after 
all,  for  life  and  immortality,  according  to  the 
passing  fancy  of  each,  fish  out  the  Truth,  and 
so  live,  and  help  to  live." 

•  In  the  Outlook  of  September  23,  1905.  Jacob 
Riis  gives  a  beautiful  and  most  instructive 
translation  of  Jorgensen's  "Strand  from 
Above."  From  a  tree  above,  an  enterprising 
spider  had  let  himself  down  to  the  hedge  Ijelow 
by  a  firm,  well-anchored  strand,  to  which  he 
skilfully  attached  the  web  of  his  future  home 
and  occupation.  .\s  he  prospered  he  grew  ex- 
acting and  self-important,  and  one  overcast  and 
depressing  evening  he  inspected  his  strands. 
"At  the  farthest  end  of  the  web  he  came  at  last 
to  a  strand  that  all  at  once  seemed  strange  to 
him.  All  the  rest  went  this  way  or  that — the 
spider  knew  every  stick  and  knob  they  were 
made  fast  to — everv  one.  But  this  preposter- 
38 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

ous  strand  went  nowhere — that  is  to  say,  went 
straight  up  in  the  air  and  was  lost.  He  stood 
up  on  his  hind  legs  and  stared  with  all  his 
eyes,  but  he  could  not  make  it  out.  To  look 
at.  the  strand  went  right  up  into  the  clouds, 
which  was  nonsense.  The  longer  he  sat  and 
glared  to  no  purpose,  tlie  angrier  the  spider 
grew.  He  had  quite  forgotten  how  on  a  bright 
September  morning  he  himself  had  come  down 
this  same  strand.  And  he  had  forgotten  how, 
in  the  building  of  the  web  and  afterward  when 
it  had  to  be  enlarged,  it  was  just  this  strand  he 
had  depended  upon.  He  saw  only  that  here  was 
a  useless  strand,  a  fool  strand,  that  went  no- 
where in  sense  or  reason,  only  up  in  the  air. 
where  solid  spiders  had  no  concern.  .  .  . 

'Away  with  it!'  and  with  one  vicious  snap 
of  his  angry  jaws  he  l)it  the  strand  in  two. 

That  instant  the  web  collapsed,  the  whole 
proud  and  i)rosperous  structure  fell  in  a  heai), 
and  when  the  spider  came  to.  he  lay  sprawl- 
ing in  the  hedge  with  the  web  all  about  his  head 
.  39 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


like  a  wet  rag.  In  one  brief  moment  he  had 
wrecked  it  all — because  he  did  not  understand 
the  use  of  the  strand  from  alnn'c." 

To  any  thoughtful  man  the  "strand  from 
above"  is  the  only  reliable  cord  of  light  and 
hope  to  depressed  and  straitened  humanity,  and 
when  in  the  pride  and  wantonness  of  human 
conceit  this,  in  the  repudiation  of  the  Bible, 
is  wilfully  snapped,  the  spiritual  disaster  is 
complete. 

In  the  precarious  voyage  of  the  soul,  the 
captain  who  looks  into  the  hold  of  the  ship  for 
either  the  stars,  or  the  telescope  of  his  own 
rude  and  guess-work  construction,  will  be 
stranded.  After  remarking,  "A  secular  jour- 
nal in  England  received  in  the  course  of  three 
months  nine  th.ousand  comnuuiications  ivom 
people  seeking  for  light  on  the  religious  ques- 
tion''— "never  before  has  there  been  such  a 
crisis  in  the  history  of  belief" — Prof.  Goldwin 
Smith — himself  a  comet  and  not  a  star — 
writes :  "One  clergyman  it  seems  denies  the 
40 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

infallibility  of  the  Bible  and  treats  the  Church 
as  an  association  for  general  improvement.  A 
second  finds  in  the  Bible  inaccuracy  and  worse. 
A  third  professes  to  believe  only  so  much  of 
the  Bible  as  commends  itself  to  his  judgment 
— the  three  eminent  clergymen,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  are  sliding  down  a  slippery  incline,  on 
which  no  permanent  foothold  is  to  be  found." 
Yes.  and  sliding  "not  alone"  in  their  unbeliev- 
ing or  self-believing  temerity,  and  the  third  is 
sliding  down  just  as  unmistakably  and  fatally 
as  the  others. 

In  the  preface  of  his  book.  "The  Inner 
Light,"  Dr.  Amory  H.  Bradford  says :  "The 
teaching  of  the  book  may  be  condensed  as  fol- 
lows :  There  is  in  every  man  light  sufficient 
to  disclose  all  the  truth  that  is  needed  for  the 
purposes  of  life;  that  light  is  from  God  who 
dwells  in  humanity,  as  he  is  immanent  in  the 
universe;  therefore  the  source  of  authority  is 
to  be  found  within  the  soul  and  not  in  external 
authority  of  church,  creed  or  book.  That  light 
■41 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

beino-  divine  must  be  continuous;  it  will  never 
fail ;  it  will  lead  into  all  trutb  and  sbow  tbings 
to  come:  and  it  may  be  implicitly  trusted."  He 
tben  proceeds  to  sbow  tbat  tbe  Bible  and  the 
men  of  tbe  Cburch  are  not  to  be  trusted.  Of 
the  latter  he  asks :  "Is  not  tbe  Church  com- 
posed of  men?  Are  not  men  always  limited 
and  fallible?  By  what  process  do  fallible  men 
when  brought  together  into  a  society  become 
infallible?" 

Yes,  and  the  question  at  once  arises :  By 
what  process  do  fallible  men  like  Dr.  Bradford 
and  his  liberal  friends  become  infallible?  As 
he  truly  declares,  the  Churchmen  are  limited 
and  fallible,  and  yet  in  fact  they  have  ever  had 
and  have  now  all  the  advantages  of  Inner  Light 
and  spiritual  indwelling  that  Dr.  Bradford  has, 
and  if  these  men  of  the  Church  are  not  an  au- 
thority, wherein  appears  his  reliability,  in  any- 
thing in  which  he  repudiates  or  distrusts  the 
Bible?  The  record  of  the  men  of  the  Church 
is  conclusive  against  them,  he  says.  Is  the 
42 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


record  of  liberal  thinking  any  more  attractive 
and  convincing? 

To  take  a  single  specimen  from  the  writings 
of  R.  J.  Campbell,  of  the  London  City  Tem- 
ple:  "Sin  itself  is  a  quest  for  God — a  blunder- 
ing quest,  Init  a  c|uest  for  all  that.  The  man 
who  got  drunk  last  night  did  so  because  of 
the  impulse  within  him  to  Ijreak  through  the 
barriers  of  his  limitations,  to  express  himself, 
and  to  realize  the  more  abundant  life.  His 
self-indulgence  just  came  to  that;  he  wanted, 
if  only  for  a  brief  hour,  to  live  the  larger  life, 
to  expand  the  soul,  to  enter  untrodden  regions, 
and  gather  to  himself  new  experiences.  That 
dnmken  debauch  was  a  (|uest  for  life,  a  (juest 
for  God.  Men  in  their  sinful  follies  to-day,  and 
their  blank  atheism,  and  their  foul  blasphemies, 
their  trampling  upon  things  that  are  beautiful 
and  good,  are  engaged  in  this  dim,  blundering 
quest  for  God,  whom  to  know  is  life  eternal. 
The  roiic  you  saw  in  Piccadilly  last  night,  w  ho 
went  out  to  corrupt  innocence  and  to  wallow 
.  43 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


in  filthiness  of  the  flesh,  was  engaged  in  this 
bkindering  quest  for  God." 

Other  quotations — not  equal  to  this  extraor- 
dinary specimen  indeed,  but  going  to  show  that 
"hljcral"  men  are  no  more  to  be  trusted  as  ulti- 
mate authority  than  the  Churchmen — might  be 
given,  and  given  from  the  pages  of  the  Outlook, 
of  which  Dr.  Bradford  is  one  of  the  editors. 
The  fact  is,  this  delusive  cult  is  based  on  a  sen- 
timental egoism  wdiich  can  be  expressed  at  a 
distance  in  books  and  articles,  but  not  face  to 
face  with  men  and  facts  in  a  pulpit.  Dr.  Brad- 
ford is  much  too  faithful  to  his  ]\Iontclair  flock, 
and  to  the  Chief  Shepherd  of  the  same,  and 
to  his  own  better  self  indeed,  than  to  stand  u]) 
in  his  pulpit  to  say :  "You  cannot  trust  your 
Bibles,  you  cannot  trust  the  Church  ministers 
or  the  creed-making  ministers,  even  though 
they  liave  had  e(|ually  with  us  the  Spirit  and 
the  Inner  Light ;  but  you  can  trust  me  and 
such  as  I  am,  with  our  Spirit  and  our  Inner 
Light." 

44 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


"Nor  is  there  any  way  of  salvation  for  us 
but  unwavering  and  untrammelled  pursuit  of 
truth."  says  Goldwin  Smith — with  a  countless 
chorus  of  liberal  echoes.  True ;  but  the  pur- 
suit of  truth  is  with  the  hosts  of  the  self-trust- 
ers — like  "following-  conscience,"  as  Dr.  Will- 
iam Adams  describes  it — "as  a  man  follows  a 
wheel-barrow  which  he  is  steadily  pushing  be- 
fore him  with  all  the  obstinacy  of  a  determined 
will."  These  load  up  the  wheel-barrow  with 
their  own  negations  and  imaginations — push  it 
energetically  before  them,  and  call  it  following 
the  truth. 

As  has  been  well  said  of  the  "multiplied 
dogmas  which  are  now  asking  for  acceptance 
on  the  ground  that  they  are  based  on  the  re- 
ligious consciousness,  and  must  be  received  be- 
cause the  religious  consciousness  is  endorsing 
them,  we  are  familiar  with  their  range,  their 
style,  their  coloring.  They  relate  to  the  nature 
and  character  of  (lod,  to  Mis  ])r()\i(k'ntial  and 
His  moral  administration,  to  the  contents  and 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

the  claim  of  Scripture,  to  the  person  and 
mecHation  of  Christ,  to  the  existence  and  min- 
istration of  the  Spirit,  to  the  real  nature  of  the 
Christian  life,  to  conscience  and  duty,  to  the 
Church  and  her  creeds  and  institutions,  to  the 
article  of  death,  the  state  of  the  dead,  future 
probation,  a  judgment  to  come,  a  final  and 
retributive  eternity.  Men  are  everywhere  test- 
ing these  great  verities  of  religion  by  their 
fears,  their  fancies,  their  hopes — by  the  dicta 
of  their  natural  conscience,  by  the  measure- 
ments of  finite  reason,  by  standards  that  are 
wholly  sul)jective,  individual,  superficial,  per- 
verted through  sin:  rather  than  by  the  lines 
and  measurements  of  the  Word  and  Spirit  of 
God.  In  many  instances  they  set  up  their  little 
social  consciousness  against  the  consciousness 
of  the  whole  Church — their  temporary  opinions 
against  the  enduring  conviction  oT  the  house- 
hold of  faith  living  on  thn)Ugli  the  ages." 

All  the  sjieculations  and  experiments  of  be- 
nighted, ignorant,   weak.  decei\al)le  men  in 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

their  consummation — when  they  are  "finished," 
show  that  there  are  no  substittites  for  the  Bible 
as  to  life's  xi'liaf  or  hozc,  and  no  Bible  but  a 
divinely  inspired  and  so  reliable  one ;  and  how- 
ever self-complacent  for  the  time,  rejecters  of 
the  Bible  are  and  are  seen  to  be  traveling  in 
the  dark,  running",  as  has  been  said  of  a  fron- 
tier railroad,  "from  nowhere,  through  nowhere, 
to  nowhere"" ! 

But  how  read  the  indispensable  Bible?  In 
intelligent  reasonableness.  How  read  so  that 
we  may  at  once  honor,  understand  and  utilize 
it?  As  a  little  cliild  and  a  straitened,  eager 
child,  in  genuine  humility,  nc\cr  allowing  our 
ignorance  to  interfere  with  our  knowledge, 
which  is  all  the  more  reasonable  because  in  life 
and  death  emergencies,  we  are  called  to  seek 
the  truth.  There  is  a  vast  difference  as  to  ani- 
nuis,  (juestioning  criticism,  and  preliminary  ex- 
actions of  the  business,  between  three  men  hunt- 
ing rabbits.  One  for  the  exhilarating  fun  of 
the  chase,  another  from  curiosity  in  animal 
■  A7 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


anatomy,  and  the  third  wlio,  hungry  in  the 
forest,  is  starving  to  death.  Reason  helongs 
often  to  ends — supreme  practical  ends — not 
logical  self-gratii'ications. 

What  is  truly  rational  in  Bible  reception  may 
he  illustrated  by  four  American  children  or- 
phaned in  London  through  their  father's  sud- 
denly returning  to  New  York.  Whh  reason 
in  full  play  they  argue : 

"Our  father  will  surely  write  to  us  for  our 
guidance.  Having  put  us  here  he  v.ill  not 
abandon  us  to  the  consequences  of  our  ov;n 
childhood,  ignorance  and  experience." 

\Mien  letters  come,  tlicy  ask :  "Are  these 
really  from  father  ?  Probably  they  are,  but  are 
they  surely,  evidently  so?"  So  they  bring  to 
bear  their  resources  of  scholarship  and  "criti- 
cism," examine  the  postmarks,  many  details  of 
which  they  cannot  understand,  and  the  text, 
which  varies  indeed  as  pen,  or  typewriter  or 
dictation  are  employed.  And  to  their  bright 
and  rational,  vet  not  omniscient  minds,  thereare 
48 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


decided  mysteries,  not  onl}'  of  w  ords,  but  also 
ideas — mercantile  and  diplomatic  ideas  above 
them  and  e\-idently  designed  to  be  reported 
rather  than  utilized.  But  the  question  is: 
"Was  father  the  author  of  the  letters?"  And 
they  rationally  and  confidently  say :  "Yes," 
and  proceed  accordingly,  and  find  their  critical 
faith  confirmed  by  their  experience ;  find  that 
all  their  life  needs,  perplexities,  enterprises,  mu- 
tualities and  prospects  are  here  exactly  met. 

Moreover  their  faith  in  the  communications 
is  additionally  confirmed  by  the  lucid  and  cheer- 
ing expositions  of  an  intelligent,  sympathetic 
and  affectionate  friend  to  whom  the  father 
cables  in  their  Ijehalf. 

Thoughtfully  calculating  that  theirfatherwas 
sure  to  write,  did  write,  and  knew  just  what 
and  how  to  write  for  their  highest  life  experi- 
ences— though  to  be  sure  he  did  not  always 
satisfy  their  curiosity — they  thoughtfully  read, 
and  enjoy  and  utilize  the  letters. 

Not  all  of  them,  though.  One  was  forsooth 
49 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


a  young  "liberal."  He  said  he  was  his  fath.er's 
child,  and  equal  to  him  in  qualifications  for 
revelations,  vainly  sought  to  induce  the  sym- 
pathizing friend  to  take  counsel  with  him,  in- 
dependently of  the  letters,  said  his  own  per- 
sonal authority  was  for  truth  higher  and  more 
"final"  than  they,  that  he  had  "ideas  and  ideals," 
had  "found  himself"  and  could  and  would  "un- 
waveringly pursue  the  truth  wherever  it  led 
him,"  and  spent  much  of  his  time  in  criticising 
and  denouncing  the  letters — except  as  they 
were  subordinate  to  his  superior  thought.  Not 
long,  however — going  forth  to  test  his  unfilial 
theories  by  experience,  he  soon  came  to  grief, 
now  coldly  ordered  to  "move  on,"  and  then  run 
over,  and  here  in  the  lock-up  and  there  in  the 
river;  day  and  night  lost  and  IdhcIv  and  hun- 
gry, in  due  time  a  sadder  and  wiser  youth, 
he  came  to  himself,  returned  home  and  in  be- 
coming humility  lived  with  the  others  a  filial 
life  of  reason  corrected  by  reason. 

One  consideration  ne\er  to  be  forgotten  in 
50 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


our  own  Bible  study  is  this :  God  has  given 
universal  notice  that  in  His  communications 
to  men  there  will  be  always  a  zone  of  mystery 
between  the  \  oice  and  the  ear — a  zone  of  mys- 
tery to  be  in  silent  awe  respected  by  the  listener, 
always  an  intervening,  an  enchanted  region  be- 
tween the  "burning  bush"  and  the  over-curious 
Moses  "turning  aside  to  see,"  of  which  God  in 
unapproachable  majesty  is  saying:  "Moses, 
Moses,  draw  not  nigh  hither,  put  off  thy  shoes 
from  off  thy  feet,  for  the  place  whereon  thou 
standest  is  holy  ground!" 

God  gives  indeed  wayside  intimations  of  this 
in  the  very  constitution  of  man  himself,  in  which 
spiritual  being  mysteriously  addressed  by  and 
through  matter,  mysteriously  communicates 
purposes  to  matter.  A  music  teacher's  thought 
through  his  tongue  to  the  pupil's  ear  and 
through  the  ear  to  the  conceptions,  and  through 
the  conceptions  to  the  will,  and  through  the 
will  to  the  fingers,  and  from  the  fingers  to  the 
keys,  is  a  familiar  yet  after  all  a  startling  mys- 
51 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


tery.  So  is  telegraphic  communication  mysteri- 
ous. 

The  mystery  and  reserve  of  God's  communi- 
cations are  true  universally — appearing  in  na- 
ture and  science  as  well  as  grace  and  truth — 
all  through,  in  all  spheres,  from  the  guidance 
of  the  terrified  and  helpless  wild  fowl,  crying 
in  the  blackn.ess  of  a  stormy  November  night 
yet  sweeping  forward  with  unerring  certainty 
straight  for  the  southern  goal  nevertheless,  to 
the  final  "well  done"  and  "enter  the  joy"  of  a 
departing  Christian ! 

And  of  course  there  are  mysterious  elements 
in  the  contents  and  the  delivery  of  Bible  truth. 
It  is  usually  said  that  God  leaves  to  the  sacred 
writers  their  peculiar  characteristics  of  mind 
and  disposition,  and  yet  overrules  them  to  in- 
sure inerrancy,  and  doubtless  this  is  true.  And 
it  is  also  necessarily  true  that  God  must  some- 
how have  a  verbal  superintendence  in  Scrip- 
ture writing  or  none.  This  intervention  of 
God  in  human  diction  in  its  impalpable  mys- 
52 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

teries  is  illustrated  continually  in  Christian 
service. 

No  sensitive  and  intelligent  ambassador  for 
Christ  ever  dares  to  preach  or  pray  without 
heartfelt  appeals  to  God  to  visit  him,  not  only 
for  the  "meditations  of  his  heart,"  but  the 
"words  of  his  mouth,"  as  well,  and  every  Sab- 
bath night  he  thanks  his  Lord  for  words.  But 
let  him  now  blunder  into  talk  about  this  sacred 
business  of  the  "secret  place  of  the  Most  High," 
and  tell  perhaps  his  wife  all  about  it,  and  she 
will  corner  him  on  the  spot,  by  asking  if  he 
imagines  that  his  blundering  infelicities  are  to 
be  attributed  to  God.  So  in  devout  and  spirit- 
ual conventions  or  prayer  circles,  Christian  men 
and  women  pray  for  words  as  well  as  thoughts, 
feeliiigs  and  purposes,  and  are  sure  that  God 
regards  such  prayers,  even  though  they  might 
be  cornered  on  the  infelicities.  "The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  listctli,  and  thou  hcarest  the 
sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it 
Cometh  and  whither  it  goelh  :  so  is  every  one 
.  53 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

that  is  born  of  the  Spirit" — or  taught  or  used 
of  the  Spirit. 

Another  in  this  divine  Trinity  of  efficacy  is 
the  Saviour — at  once  supreme  objective  and 
omnipotent  source. 

"I  am  the  way.  the  truth  and  the  hfe,"  He 
said — "No  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but 
by  me" — as  elsewhere,  in  thought,  "No  man 
goeth  forth  from  the  Father  but  by  me" — or 
as  Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke  fehcitously  puts  it : 
"Christ  must  be  your  door  by  whom  you  go  into 
God.  and  out  to  man." 

Prof.  Goldwin  Smith  is  an  accomphshed  bi- 
ographer, no  doubt,  but  he  can  be  improved 
upon.  Of  Gladstone  he  writes:  "Let  those 
who  shrink  with  horror  from  the  spread  of 
free  inquiry  (h^aw  encouragement  and  charity 
at  the  same  time  from  a  grand  exami)le.  Glad- 
stone, as  Morley's  life  of  him  show.i,  was  to 
the  end  of  his  days  a  High  Churchman,  in- 
tensely religious,  a  l;elicver  in  special  j^rovi- 
dence,  in  the  inspiration  of  Scripture,  in  the 
54 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

efficacy  of  prayer.  Yet  lie  could  not  only  as- 
sociate and  act  heartily  with  free  thinkers,  but 
look  with  satisfaction  on  the  activity  of  the 
general  conscience,  and  say  that  while  there 
had  never  keen  an  age  so  much  perplexed  with 
(k)ul)t,  there  had  ne\er  been  one  so  full  of  ear- 
nest ])ursuit  of  truth."  Yes,  and  he  was  all 
that  and  more.  toD.  in  breadth  and  in  depth, 
because  as  he  himself  says,  "All  I  think,  all  I 
hope,  all  I  write,  all  I  live  for.  is  based  upon 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  central  joy  of 
my  poor  wayward  life." 

From  his  study  window,  for  months,  this 
writer  has  watched  a  magnificent  tree,  loftily 
towering  above  all  its  leafy,  lower  neighbors, 
with  enchantment  at  once  to  resist  and  utilize 
the  lenipcstunus  gales,  that  fiercely  buffet  it 
from  north  and  south  and  cast  and  west — and 
in  such  fascinating  cxhihition  of  majesty  and 
grace  tha'  at  last,  yielding  to  a  ps\chological 
im|)ulse,  he  visited  it  at  close  (|uarlers  to  see  its 
roofs.  Prof.  C<jld\\iu  .^nn'lh.  gazing  all  ad- 
55 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

miringly  on  overtowering  majesty  on  a  liigher 
plane,  go  tlion  ar.c!  do  the  same! 

If  one  may  be  allowed  to  quote  from  him- 
self : — If, as  the  Christian  Work  and  Ex'angclist 
has  suggested,  discussing  the  present  "most 
discouraging"  lack  of  spirituality  and  power 
in  the  Churches,  despite  such  confident  predic- 
tions and  various  endeavors,  we  "arouse,  wake 
up  and  turn  on  the  searchlights."  what  v.ill 
this  wide-awake  investigation  almost  certainly 
disclose?  Will  it  not  be  seen  that  Christ  as  the 
"Head  of  all  things  to  the  Church"  has  been 
subordinated  and  displaced?  Is  not  the  "neg- 
lected Scriptural  truth  precisely  adapted  to 
the  peculiar  need  of  the  times,"  of  which  Dr. 
Strong  speaks,  not,  as  he  suggests,  the  truth 
of  Jesus'  social  laws,  but  Jesus'  personal  and 
administrative  sujjremacy?  As  to  this,  accord- 
ing to  New  Testament  declarations,  is  not  God 
peculiarly  and  forever  insistent,  and  according 
to  New  Testament  standards,  are  not  we,  at 
56 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

this  critical  period  of  unparalleled  demands  an  1 
opportunities,  peculiarly  delinciuent? 

What  is  the  New  Testament  representation 
in  this  respect?  "Having  humhled  Himself 
and  become  obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death 
of  the  Cross.  God  also  hath  highly  exalted 
Him  and  gi\-cn  Him  a  name  which  is  above 
every  name."  And  he  has  supremely  exalted 
him,  it  is  to  be  ever  remembered,  not  only 
absolutely  for  our  ascriptions,  but  adminis- 
tratively for  our  surrender,  our  conformity, 
our  "following"  Him  in  all  things  within  and 
Avithout.  And  what  is  more,  upon  this  exalta- 
tion of  Christ  all  the  moral  forces  of  God's 
<li\ine  nature  and  all  tlie  executive  forces  of 
His  di\ine  goxernment  are  CDiicentrated.  and 
l(ir  tin's  unqualilicdlv  pledged.  .\nd  we  mnv 
be  sure  that  this,  as  a  law  of  God  for  His  chil- 
dren and  His  Church,  is  forever  unchangeably 
imperative. 

Says  Ruskin,  "God  will  put  up  with  a  great 
many  things  in  the  human  heart,  but  there  is 
•  57 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


one  thing"  he  will  not  put  up  with  in  it — a  sec- 
ond place.''  Nor  any  more  will  He  abate  His 
hea\-enly,  His  parental  zeal,  and  put  up  with 
a  second  place  in  the  Church  for  Himself  as 
represented  by  Christ.  And  whenever  or 
w'herever — and  whatsoever  their  ecclesiastical 
or  philosophical  excuses — men  or  Churches 
have  said,  "We  do  not  f^rimarily  care  for  a 
man.  no  matter  what  Christ  is  to  him  or  he  is 
to  Christ."  they  have  had.  so  far  forth,  to  part 
with  God.  The  purpose  and  prayer,  "Lord,  I 
will  follow  Thee,  but  suffer  me  first  to  enshrine 
my  own  or  my  f(M-efather"s  controversial  opin- 
ions," have  ne\er  been  accepted  or  tolerated 
of  God. 

But  how  is  this  normal  and  imperative  law 
to  be  interpreted,  accepted,  applied?  The  an- 
swer for  saints  is  exactly  in  the  injunction 
which  saints,  as  to  the  Sa\iour.  give  to  sin- 
ners :  "Accept  Christ  at  once  and  fully.  Then, 
as  surrendered  to  Him  as  the  Head  of  all 
things,  in  faith  and  love  and  will,  the  llolv 
58 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Spirit  will  at  once  inspire,  and  then  answer  your 
imploring  cries  for  his  ministries,  and  open  to 
you  the  Scriptures,  that  you  may  beheve  them, 
and  formulate  them,  and  obey  them,  and  pro- 
claim them.  So  shall  you  'hear  the  voice  of 
the  Son  of  God'  and  live!"  And  to  this  corre- 
spond the  theory  and  practice  of  the  early 
Christians,  and  by  this  are  explained  their  ex- 
alted holiness,  their  lofty  intellectuality,  and 
spiritual  fellowships  and  worldwide  conquests. 
Christ  was  to  them  not  only,  as  they  said,  a 
'■'Saviour.'"  but  a  "Prince"  (the  Arch-Leader). 
In  their  enthusiasm,  alike  as  to  what  He  was 
for  their  adoration,  and  in  what  He  was  to 
them  in  experience — as  not  only  "All,"  but  "in 
all" — no  language  can  exaggerate  their  flam- 
ing passion  of  thought  and  heart  for  Christ 
in  Plis  God-appointed  i)reeminence,  nor  their 
experiences  and  successes  in  consequence  of  it. 
Not  since  the  da\  s  nf  ihe  apostles  to  this  year 
of  1903  is  there  on  rccfird  the  failure  of  a  single 
man  or  Church  undertaking  life  within  or  life 
'  59 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

upreaching  or  life  outreaching,  by  this  plan 
of  God.  Christianity  never  faileth  ;  but  whether 
there  be  ecclesiasticism,  it  shall  fail :  whether 
there  be  philosophies,  they  shall  cease ;  whether 
there  be  "standards,"  they  shall  vanish  away. 
"All  things"  belong  to  the  "body"  as  it  is  true 
to  the  "Head" !  Facts — facts  are  here.  In 
fact,  if  taught  of  God.  he  has  cried  in  adoring 
humility,  "He  must  increase,  but  I  must  de- 
crease," "He  is  preferred  before  me,"  and  in  the 
all-satisfying  ecstasies  of  faith  and  love  :  "This 
my  joy,  therefore,  is  fulfilled,  to  bear  the  Bride- 
groom's voice" — if  he  has  gone  up,  awed  but 
in  the  invited  "boldness,"  before  him  to  whom 
is  "glory  and  dominion  forever  and  ever."  and 
when  in  love  he  laid  his  right  hand  upon  him 
in  the  saying.  "Fear  not,  I  am  the  first  and  the 
last,"  believed  it,  and  returning  from  his  pray- 
ers, has  lived  it.  whether  he  was  John  the  Bap- 
tist, or  John  the  Evangelist,  or  John  Chrysos- 
tom,  or  John  W'ycliffe,  or  John  Huss,  or  John 
Calvin,  or  John  Knox,  or  John  Bunyan,  or 
60 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


John  Wesley,  or  John  Hall,  he  was  not  only 
"conqueror  and  more  than  conqueror"  in  gen- 
eral, but  so  far  forth,  was  by  the  Spirit  of 
Truth  guided  into  all  truth,  to  know  it,  to 
love  it,  to  feed  upon  it,  to  formulate  it,  to 
share  it,  to  proclaim  it. 

If  the  twentieth  century  Church  does  indeed 
"arouse  herself,  wake  up,  turn  on  the  search- 
lights and  engage  in  the  work  of  rigid  self- 
inspection"  in  the  manifestation  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus,  can  there  be  in  any  quarter  the 
least  doubt  that  to-day  Christianity  unqualified- 
ly accepted  will  be  Christianity  unlimited  in 
power  ? 

And  here  are  briefer  testimonies  from  higher 
authorities.  Dr.  Parkhurst :  "We  are  not  go- 
ing to  reach  Church  unity  by  dropping,  all  of 
us,  to  the  dead-level  of  doctrinal  'don't  care,' 
but  by  rising  to  the  positive  altitude  of  mutual 
coherence  in  a  loved  and  living  Christ." 

TIenry  Ward  I'cechcr  (whose  primal  element 
of  power  all  through  was  in  his  personal  pas- 
6i 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


sion  for  a  personal  Christ)  :  "I  bring  this 
Christ  to  you  this  morning — my  Master,  whom 
I  liave  proved,  and  who  has  given  me  victories 
innumerable;  hopes  that  Hght  clear  forward  to 
the  grave ;  faith  that  reaches  sheer  across  the 
abyss,  and  illumines  the  city  beyond.  That 
Saviour  who  has  fulfilled  to  me  a  thousand 
times  His  promises  in  sickness,  in  poverty  in 
former  days,  in  cares,  in  fears,  in  anxieties,  in 
self-condemnations,  in  aspirations— that  Sa- 
viour of  whom  I  can  say,  T  know  that  my  Re- 
deemer liveth' — I  bring  Him  to  you." 

Dr.  William  H.  Furness,  Unitarian  of  Phila- 
delphia :  "I  flee  to  Christ  as  to  a  rock  amid 
storm-tossed  billows,  and  find  in  him  a  founda- 
tion for  Faith  in  God  and  for  Hope  for  man — 
a  foundation  which  neither  the  dismaying 
speculations  of  science,  nor  the  unsol\-ed  mys- 
teries of  Being  can  disturb." 

George  James  Romanes:    "Science  is  mov- 
ing with  all  the  force  of  a  tidal-wa\e  toward 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  world's  Saviour." 
62 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Dr.  David  Gregg :  "My  fellowmen,  give  the 
Church  a  man  v.  itli  a  Christo-centric  creed,  and 
you  give  it  a  man  who  will  keep  the  pulpit  from 
becoming  archaic,  and  who  will  make  it  a  lead- 
ing power  in  the  world.  He  will  be  a  man  with 
an  effective  creed." 

Prof.  Tholuck  :  "From  the  age  of  seventeen 
I  have  always  asked  myself,  '\Miat  is  the  chief 
end  of  man's  life  ?'  I  could  never  persuade  my- 
self that  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  was  the 
end.  Just  then  God  brought  me  into  contact 
with  a  venerable  saint  who  lived  in  fellowship 
with  Christ,  and  from  that  time  I  have  had  but 
one  passion,  and  that  is  Christ  and  Christ 
alone." 

Robert  B.  Buckham:  "It  is  to  Him  that  all 
past  ages  and  history  itself  has  been  pointing 
with  an  unmistakable  hand ;  the  Old  Testament 
of  the  Bible  is  but  the  prophecy  of  His  com- 
ing; and  without  Him  it  is  worthless;  the  New 
Testament  is  the  fulfillment  of  the  Old  in  Him. 
His  character.  His  personalitv,  His  humanity, 
63 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


His  divinity,  He  Himself,  is  the  great  central 
figure  of  all  time,  and  nothing  can  dim  the  un- 
fading beauty  of  His  image,  or  remove  the 
gracious  remembrance  of  Him  from  the  mem- 
ory of  man.  It  is  Christ  that  has  won  the  heart 
of  mankind,  and  not  His  precious  works  and 
priceless  precepts  solely.  It  is  upon  Christ  that 
our  hope  and  trust  for  the  future  are  staid,  not 
upon  the  observance  of  any  law  or  custom,  no 
matter  how  excellent.  Sun.  moon  and  stars 
may  be  forgot,  but  never  the  crucified  Saviour 
of  mankind." 

Dr.  Samuel  T.  Spear  (formerly  editor  of  the 
Iitdcpcndcnt ,  and  conspicuously  "strong"  rather 
than  sentimental,  in  a  farewell  address  to  the 
Presbytery  of  Brooklyn)  :  "Two  years  ago  I 
lost  my  wife,  who  for  half  a  century  had  b^en 
as  good  a  wife  as  ever  a  man  loved  and  lost. 
One  year  ago  I  lost  my  only  daughter,  who 
cared  for  my  declining  years;  and  fi\e  months 
ago  I  lost  mv  only  son.  and  I  was  left  a  com- 
l)lete  wreck  in  mv  family  and  social  life.  Be- 
64 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


sides,  in  the  same  period  I  have  had  two  at- 
tacks of  typhoid  fe\er,  tlie  last  one  confining 
me  to  my  room  for  three  months,  and  from 
which  I  never  hoped  to  recover.  In  all  this 
sorrow  I  liave  been  led  to  study  the  Bible  as 
never  before,  and  especially  all  it  says  of  Christ, 
and  my  soul  has  received  such  a  vision  of 
Christ  as  I  had  no  idea  of  before.  All  the  am- 
biguities and  dul)iosities  alx)ut  Him,  which 
trouble  many  church  meniljers  and  some  minis- 
ters, have  l)een  cleared  away.  Christ  is  to  me 
as  clear  an  object  of  thought,  of  faith,  of  af- 
fection, and  a  Being  to  be  served  as  a  personal 
friend,  as  plain  to  me  as  you,  Brother  F(X)te 
(pointing  to  the  Rev.  Mr.  Foote,  in  the  front 
pew).  I  lie  down  with  1  lini,  I  rise  up  with 
Him,  I  sleep  with  llini  by  my  side,  I  walk 
with  Him.  I  know  llim  as  I  never  knew  Him 
before  and  as  I  never  should  have  known  Him 
but  for  this  terrible  crucifixion  of  affiiction." 

Dr.  Burdett  Hart :    "St.  Paul  aggrandized 
Christ.  By  a  fiery  cKxjucnce  that  lamed  heathen 
■  65 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

mobs  and  charmed  cultured  assemblies;  by  an 
impassioned  zeal  that  despised  danger,  that 
counted  all  things  loss,  that  he  might  gain  glory 
for  Him  whom  he  ser\  ed ;  that  threw  away 
gems  as  though  they  were  baubles,  gems  of 
fame  and  learning  and  proud  life  and  wealth  ;by 
a  courage  that  made  him  calm  and  self-poised 
before  Agrippas  and  Caesars,  and  bore  him 
through  storms  of  the  elements  and  storms  of 
infuriated  enemies,  as  though  all  were  smooth 
and  serene ;  by  a  loving  and  loyal  devotion  that 
fused  every  faculty  in  its  white  heat,  and  ab- 
sorbed every  possession  in  its  burning  endeavor, 
he  placed  that  Name  on  high,  and  bore  it  over 
seas  and  land,  and  proclaimed  to  men  of  every 
speech,  to  refined  Greek  and  rude  barbarian 
and  conquering  Roman,  their  common  debt  to 
line  di\  ine  Redeemer.  He  knew  no  other  name. 
His  loyalt}'  had  but  one  supreme  object,  to 
make  C  hrist  great  in  the  world,  to  aggrandize 
Him  e\erywhere;  he  cared  t'or  nothing  else,  he 
li\cd  for  nothing  else,  and  he  would  die  for 
66 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

nothing  else.  As  always,  so  now  also,  Christ 
shall  be  magnified  in  my  body,  whether  by  life 
or  by  death.  Who  is  there  of  us  who  stands 
with  St.  Paul  in  this?  As  the  recording  angels 
make  entries  on  the  great  ])ooks  of  God,  what 
do  they  find  to  l)e  true  of  your  life  and  mine? 
Has  Christ  been  supreme  with  us  in  our 
thoughts,  in  our  purposes,  in  our  affections,  in 
our  work?" 

The  third  consideration  for  the  realization 
of  apostolic  Christianity  in  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury, is  in  a  due  regard  for  God's  Holy  Spirit — 
alike  for  perscMial  experience,  and  tlic  polariza- 
tion, organization,  unity,  purity  and  efficiency 
of  the  Church.  Practically  the  one  supreme 
question  of  tlie  Christian  and  the  Church  to- 
day is  :  What  are  the  conditions  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  cliaracteristic  efficiency? 

And  first,  His  efficiency  is  indispensable.  Dr. 
.Mexandcr  Maclarcn,  of  Manchester,  in  an  in- 
s])ire(l  and  ins])iring  address  at  ICdinburgh,  on 
the  true  " I'.vangelical  Mysticism,"  says  that, 
67  '  '  . 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

"Its  controlling  principle  is  not  only  evan- 
gelical, but  central  to  all  truest  and  highest 
Christian  faiths  and  life,"  that  it  may  be  de- 
fined as  "the  direct  union  and  communion  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  and  the  spirit  of  man,"  that 
the  doctrine  of  the  New  Testament  on  this  sub- 
ject is  unmistakable,  and  is  embraced  in  three 
particulars :  First,  the  imparting  of  the  divine 
life  to  the  believer  by  the  Spirit  in  regenera- 
tion; second,  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  life 
in  the  believer  for  sanctification  and  assimilation 
to  God  ;  and  third,  the  outworking  of  the  Spirit 
through  the  believer,  for  a  new  manifestation 
of  God  to  man. 

Dr.  Maclaren  argues  that  for  all  these  life 
results,  the  Holy  Spirit's  ministries  are  indis- 
pensable. As  a  reviewer  sums  it  up,  "Here  is 
the  corrective  alike  of  ritualism  and  rational- 
ism. We  shall  learn  that  all  true  worship  is 
spiritual,  not  formal,  and  that  faith  recognizes 
truths  and  facts  that  reason  cannot  demon- 
strate. We  shall  learn  that  spiritual  criticism 
68 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

is  the  antidote  to  all  excesses  of  literary  or  his- 
torical criticism,  and  rest  in  a  persuasion  of 
Scriptural  authority  that  is  horn  of  the  Spirit's 
inward  witness."  Then,  "What  a  grand  effect 
on  ethics !  The  secret  of  the  highest  morality 
is  spirituality.  \\'hosoever  abideth  in  Him  sin- 
neth  not.  Nothing  makes  sin  so  abhorrent  as 
the  inward  revelation  of  a  holy  God  indwelling 
and  making  the  body  his  own  temple."  Fur- 
thermore. "What  high  motives  inspire  the  life 
under  such  conditions !  What  indifference  to 
mere  salary,  human  applause,  worldly  ambition, 
scholarly  distinction,  when  the  being  is  per- 
vaded with  God's  presence!" 

As  there  is  "none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved" 
than  the  name  of  the  crucified  Jesus  Christ  of 
Nazareth,  so  there  is  none  other  power  under 
heaven  given  among  men  wherel)}'  we  must  be 
regenerated,  sanctified,  restrained,  impelled. 
There  is  in  all  the  universe  no  skilful  hand  but 
that  of  the  divine  Spirit  of  Holiness,  which  can 
69 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


restring  and  tune  the  broken  "lute  within"  and 
then — to  aHure  tlie  lost  and  wandering,  charm 
the  weary  and  hopeless,  thrill  the  worker  and 
warrior — play  it. 

Dr.  Ambrose  Shepherd,  of  Glasgow,  first 
asks  why  it  is  that  with  so  much  machinery  and 
activity  in  the  Churches,  there  is  such  deplor- 
able lack  of  spiritual  results — and  then  an- 
swers, "The  reason  why  so  much  of  the  prayer, 
toil  and  sacrifice  of  the  Christian  Church  counts 
for  little  or  nothing,  is  because  so  many  of  us 
are  living  on  the  wrong  side  of  Pentecost. 
I\Iany  of  us  know  Christ ;  many  of  us  are  fol- 
lowing Christ;  but  how  many  of  us  have 
claimed  our  own  Pentecost,  or  have  sought  at 
Christ's  hands  that  e(|uipnient  for  service  with- 
out which  all  other  equipment  counts  for  noth- 
ing— that  Holy  Spirit  of  God  in  the  heart — 
that  vital  living  power  which  is  to  the  Chris- 
tian what  genius  is  to  the  artist,  and  witl^out 
which,  whatcxer  his  tcchni(iue,  there  is  no  soul? 
Our  clamant  need  is  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit. 
70 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


For  what  harder  work  can  tliere  l;e  in  the 
world  than  to  get  spiritual  work  out  of  an  un- 
spiritual  Christian?" 

"Out  of  an  unspiritual  Christian" — yes,  and 
as  an  editorial  in  the  New  York  Tribune  shows 
— he  had  best  not  try.  First,  argues  this  secu- 
lar authority,  the  Floly  Spirit  to  the  human 
spirit,  and  then  operations! 

"Whitefield,"  it  says,  "who  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  ago  began  this  preaching  in  the  open 
air,  had  a  message  to  speak;  it  tore  his  soul 
and  would  not  be  quiet.  \Mien  a  church  was 
denied  him,  he  went  to  the  fields.  'My  Lord,' 
he  cried,  'had  the  mountains  for  His  i)ulpit  and 
the  hea\'ciis  for  His  sounding-board;  lie  sent 
his  servants  into  the  highways  and  hedges.'  He. 
was  surrounded  by  thousands — peeresses  in 
their  coaches;  old  scholars  inim  the  seclusion 
of  the  colleges  ;  'the  poor  colliers  came  from  out 
of  their  coalpits  in  swarms,  the  tears  making 
white  gutters  down  their  black  faces.'  The 
sound  (jf  their  xoices.  ])raising  G(xl,  was  heard 
71 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

afar  off  like  the  thunder  of  the  sea.  In  those 
days,  as  on  that  of  Pentecost,  tliousands  were 
converted  unto  God.  Why  do  we  see  nothing 
like  this  scene  in  our  modern  camp  meetings? 
There  are  souls  crying  out  to  be  saved  in  New 
Jersey  as  there  were  in  Spitalfields.  Life  is  as 
awful  in  its  import,  death  as  near,  and  the 
Flelper,  the  only  Helper,  as  ready  to  stretch  out 
His  hand.  What  is  wanting?  It  does  not  seem 
to  us,  outside  secular  observers,  that  it  is  a 
Whitefield,  but  Whitefield's  spirit  that  is  lack- 
ing. Secular  observers  and  secular  newspapers 
are  entitled  to  speak  in  this  matter.  \Mien  any 
movement  is  made  which  offers  to  lift  us  all  into 
a  higher  life,  those  whom  it  oft'ers  to  help  have 
the  right  to  judge  it,  and  to  decide  whether  it 
does  its  work  or  not.  If  men  ])rofcss  to  make 
Christ  and  His  gospel  more  honorable  in  the 
world,  we  warn  them  that  they  need  White- 
field's  spirit.  Whitefield  was  a  man  possessed 
with  his  message.  .  .  .  The  voice  of  one 
man  thoroughly  on  fire  with  love  for  his  Mas- 
72 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


ter  would  pass  through  this  conventional  ma- 
chinery, like  an  electric  shock  through  lifeless 
matter.  Christians  who  set  going  this  mechan- 
ical enginery  may  he  mistaken  as  to  the  reality 
of  their  own  zeal ;  but  the  world  is  never  mis- 
taken. The  world  cries  no  longer  'Lo,  here  is 
Christ,'  or  'Lo,  He  is  there.'  It  begins  to  doubt 
if  He  is  anywhere.  To  such  of  our  readers  as 
mean  to  show  Him  this  month,  we  urge  that 
they  make  ready  not  by  writing  a  fine  sermon 
or  preparing  cold  meats,  but  by  betaking  them- 
selves to  their  knees  humbly  to  find  out  whether 
they  themselves  know  Him.  Afterward,  un- 
less He  has  given  them  a  message  to  the  world, 
let  them  keej)  silent.  Let  us  have  no  sermons 
and  prayers  in  these  camp  meetings,  that  come 
not  from  the  heart.  W'c  can  talk  politics  or 
sing  Pinafore  with  the  brain  and  mouth;  but 
it  is  only  when  the  soul  itself  speaks  that  we 
should  try  to  teach  God  to  others." 

Men  are  saying.  "The  Church  is  weak  be- 
cause  of   worldline.ss,    materialism.  Sabbath 
73 


O  R  G  A  N  r  Z I :  D  C  H  R I S  T I A  X  IT  Y 


desecration,  feeble  preaching,  diminished  at- 
tendance." The  truth  is  the  Church  is  never 
weak  from  any  enmity  or  disabihty  or  disad- 
vantage without.  The  Church  and  the  pulpit 
are  always  weak,  and  fatally  delusive  as  well, 
in  the  absence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  within. 

And  not  only  altogether  essential,  but  alto- 
gether adequate,  are  the  ministries  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Not  a  debased  and  obdurate  sinner,  not 
a  degenerated,  lean,  lifeless  Christian,  but  can 
by  the  omnipotent  Spirit  he  "made  meet  for 
the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light"  and  for 
the  society  and  service  of  God,  on  the  way  to  it. 
There  is  no  benighted  soul  in  any  possible  dark- 
ness, without,  within,  but  His  light,  His  all  per- 
vading, all  penetrating  light,  will  thoroughly  il- 
luminate it.  Earth  hath  no  sorrows  that  He 
cannot  heal,  no  adversities  that  He  cannot  re- 
verse. 

'T  shall  be  satisfied,"  cried  the  Psalmist, 
"when  I  awake  in  thy  likeness,"  and  there  is 
no  spiritual  slumberer  but  the  Holy  Spirit  can 
74 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


even  now  and  here  awake  him,  mold  him  to 
the  divine  Hkeness,  and  satisfy  him  for  this 
life. 

Moreover,  He  can  adjust  us  to  each  other 
and  give  unity.  Says  Bishop  A.  Cleveland 
Coxe :  ''To  illustrate  my  ruling  ideas,  viz. : 
First — We  must  drop  all  references  to  Episco- 
palians. Presbyterians.  Methodists,  etc.,  in  our 
meetings,  and  look  on  each  other  simply  as 
fellow  Christians.  Second — The  Holy  Spirit 
will  reconstruct  when  we  thus  come  down  to 
elemental  relations.  He  only  can  give  organic 
unity."  He  only  can.  but  He  can,  banish  from 
hearts  and  organizations  the  prepossessions 
and  prejudices,  that  preclude  organized  Chris- 
tianity. 

And  then  He  can  bring  the  Christian  and 
the  Church  at  any  period  into  line,  into  har- 
mony with  the  changing  spirit  of  the  times. 
Bishop  Wescott  was  right — "The  voice  of  the 
Spirit  will  come  to  each  new  generation,  as  it 
has  come  in  past  times,  through  the  circum 
•  75 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


stances  of  the  age  in  which  it  becomes  articu- 
late." 

Fairly  invoked,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  never 
fails,  never  disappoints. 

But  what  are  the  conditions  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  efficacy — over  us,  within  us,  through 
us?  "There  are  none,"  is  the  answer  often 
given,  and  in  circles  highly  orthodox,  too — an 
answer  in  which  is  concealed  the  most  per- 
nicious heresy  of  Christendom. 

"Ever  since  Pentecost  the  Holy  Spirit's  in- 
fluences are  like  an  atmosphere  all  atout  a 
Christian  and  a  Church — and  you  do  not  have 
to  pray  for  them,"  it  is  said,  and  so  the  deadly 
notion  goes  abroad,  that  so  long  as  one  is  a 
Christian — no  matter  how  neglectful  of  prayer, 
or  thought,  or  work,  or  (jod,  or  man,  or  self — 
all  is  well  because  the  graces  and  operations  of 
the  all-sufficient  Spirit  of  God  are  for  us  in- 
sured in  any  event;  and,  so,  many  of  the  "very 
elect"  are  stealthily  deceived  into  the  uK^ist  de- 
plorable indolence  and  presumption. 

76 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Of  course  we  do  not  have  to  pray  for  the 
Pentecostal  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  again, 
neither  does  a  Christian  have  to  pray  to  be 
adopted.  But  the  law  of  God,  announced  in 
His  Word,  and  all  history,  and  all  experience, 
is,  that  for  His  child  to  have  the  heavenly  gifts 
of  sonship,  he  must  pray,  and  this  whether  he 
can  understand  the  reasons  for  and  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  divine  arrangement  or  not,  and  in 
fact  only  those  who  do  importunately  ask  in 
prayer  and  supplication,  do  abundantly  and  ade- 
quately receive.  The  same  is  true  of  the  per- 
sonal operations  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  These,  in 
fact,  are  conditioned  upon  the  importunate 
prayer  of  faith  and  energy — as  declared  in  the 
word  of  God,  with  universal  ratification  in  the 
providence  of  God.  One  of  the  most  lamentable 
exhibitions  of  confusion  of  spiritual  thought 
and  sentiment,  where  there  should  have  been 
only  the  most  radiant  certainty,  appeared  in 
this  respect  in  some  of  the  recent  revival  serv- 
ices. Listening  penetratingly  you  would  hear, 
•  77 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


"Of  course  you  must  all  earnestly  pray; 
'Prayer  moves  the  arm  that  moves  the  world' ; 
no  work  of  grace  obtains  without  much 
prayer" ;  and  then  in  an  "aside"  undertone, 
"And  yet  this  is  the  dispensation  of  Pentecost 
and  of  course  He  is  and  will  be  with  us — there 
is  no  need  to  pray  for  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Now  the  propriety,  necessity  and  success  of 
supplications  for  the  gifts  and  operations  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  have  been  recognized  by  saints 
of  power  all  down  the  centuries,  from  the 
AfKDstle  Paul  to  Charles  Hodge  and  Evan 
Roberts.  Says  Dr.  Hodge  in  his  incomparable 
lectures :  "Hence  the  prayers  so  frequent  in 
Scripture,  and  so  constantly  on  the  lips  of 
believers,  that  the  Spirit  would  not  cast  us  off, 
would  not  give  us  up,  would  not  be  grieved  by 
our  ingratitude  or  resistance,  but  that  He  would 
come  to  us,  enlighten  us.  purify,  elevate, 
strengthen,  guide  and  comfort  us:  that  He 
would  come  to  our  households,  renew  our  chil- 
dren, visit  our  churches  and  multiply  his  con- 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


verts,  as  the  drops  of  the  morning  dew,  and  that 
He  would  everywhere  give  the  Word  of  God 
effect."  Discussing  the  erroneous  idea  that  the 
Word  has  inherent  power,  he  writes:  "It  is 
inconsistent  with  the  command  to  pray  for  the 
Spirit.  Men  are  not  accustomed  to  pray  that 
God  would  give  fire  the  power  to  hurn  or  ice  to 
cool.  If  the  Spirit  were  always  in  mystical, 
indissoluble  union  with  the  Word,  giving  it 
inherent  divine  power,  there  would  be  no  pro- 
priety in  praying  for  His  influence,  as  the 
apostles  did,  and  as  the  Churcli  in  all  ages  has 
ever  done  and  continues  to  do." 

And  this  of  Evan  Roberts:  "He  tells  the 
people  frankly  that  they  must  pray  for  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit — that  they  do  not 
need  7;(;/z";  and  again  (|Uoting  him:  "I'or  fi\e 
montlis  before  the  re\-ival  began,  1  had  ])raved 
agonizingly  for  the  Holy  Spirit.  I'.ach  day  I 
spent  from  three  to  eight  hours  in  prayer.  Be- 
fore that  1  liad  been  a  sound  ^lfe];er:  but  begin- 
ning in  May,  1904,  1  awoke  at  one  o'clock  each 
■ 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


night,  and  prayed  sometimes  until  four  A.  M. 
and  sometimes  until  nine  A.  M."  (However,  it 
is  to  ])e  remarked,  a  normal  and  genuinely  in- 
tense importunity  does  not  constrain  a  man  to 
rush  hysterically  into  nervous  prostration.) 

Yes,  definite  prayers  for  the  Holy  Spirit's 
ministries  are  appropriate — and  more,  most 
urgently  demanded. 

Considering  the  practical  importance  of 
prayer  and  the  representative  office  and  posi- 
tion of  the  ministry  in  its  relation  to  the  gen- 
eral field  of  spiritual  operations,  it  may  in  a 
sense  be  truly  said  that  the  hope  of  the  Church 
and  world  is  referred  to  the  simple  question : 
"What  is  the  average  minister  in  his  study  at 
eight  or  nine  o'clock  A.  doing — what  is  he 
preferring?"  Look  at  him  :  what  an  interesting 
objective  for  urgent  applications  he  is! 

Here  is  an  illustration  in  the  general  prose- 
cution of  Church  activities :  "Work  for  the 
Kingdom  in  our  own  Church" — five  distinct 
objects.  "Work  for  the  Kingdom  in  our  com- 
80 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

munity" — six  objects.  "Work  for  the  King- 
dom as  organized  by  our  denomination" — 
seven  objects.  "Work  for  the  Kingdom  in  gen- 
eral"— thirty  objects.  Several  years  ago  at 
Andover,  the  calls  upon  the  future  ministers, 
as  to  social  economics  alone,  were  formulated 
under  the  divisions  of  "The  Social  Evolution 
of  Labor,"  "The  Treatment  of  Crime  and  the 
Criminal  Class,"  "Pauperism  and  Disease," 
with  twelve  urgently  important  topics  under 
each  division.  Then  pastoral  cares  and  calls, 
family  and  household  engagements,  the  claims 
of  general  literature,  then  general  pulpit  prepa- 
ration— then  special  i)ulpit  preparation — all 
plausible,  legitimate,  exciting  applications.  And 
may  he,  can  he,  must  he  resist  them  all  ?  For 
his  life — his  life  personal  and  as  before 
God  and  before  men — lie  must  resist  them  all, 
until  the  personal  call  of  his  God  and  his 
Saviour  is  first  of  all  and  fully  regarded,  alike 
as  to  time  and  thought !  The  secret  of  his  life, 
in  the  holiness  of  it,  and  joy  of  it,  and  the 
■  8i 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

power  of  it,  is,  in  fact,  hidden  in  his  deafness 
and  blindness  to  anybody  and  anything,  until 
the  voice  and  vision  of  his  God  are  fully  re- 
garded. At  the  beginning  of  the  day,  one  of 
the  alternatives  for  our  choice  is  the  intimate 
personal  fellowship  of  God  Himself,  with  the 
Jove  of  God  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts,  the  light 
of  God  irradiating  our  intellects,  the  power  of 
God  transforming  from  the  image  of  the  earth- 
ly to  the  image  of  the  heavenly,  thought,  af- 
fection and  will — all  these,  not  as  in  a  celestial 
and  transitory  experience  only,  but  to  be  clear- 
ly and  effectively  and  permanently  manifested, 
on  our  return  to  earth. 

As  all  concede  in  theory,  and  few  realize  in 
experience,  the  combined  duty  and  privilege — 
the  wisdom  of  the  minister  in  his  study  is  here  : 
Duly  emancipated,  first  of  all.  to  surrender  un- 
conditionally to  the  Holy  Sj^irit  to  be  by  Him 
in  thought  and  heart  taken  up  to  heaven  to 
stay  there — until  Christ  Himself — after  His 
personal  society  has  been,  in  the  opportunities 
82 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


and  bliss  of  it,  in  appropriate  fulness  duly  en- 
joyed— until  Christ  Himself  pronounces  upon 
him  the  dismissal  benediction  of  his  return. 

"I  look  back  with  horror  upon  my  neglect  of 
secret  prayer,""  writes  Xorman  McLeod.  "I 
wish  I  had  prayed  more,"  with  demure  pathos 
murmured  a  ser\-ant  of  God,  as  dying  gave  him 
a  mountain-top  view  of  life — voicing  the  re- 
gretting thought  of  ten  thousands,  who  living 
or  dying,  have  gained  at  last  a  height  from 
which  the  office  and  power  of  prayer  are  re- 
alized in  heaven's  light. 

Says  Austin  Phelps — what  everybody  knows 
but  everybody  easily  forgets :  "Xo  large 
growth  in  holiness  was  ever  gained  by  one  who 
did  not  take  time  to  l^e  often  and  long  alone 
with  God."  Yes,  and  "no  large  growth  in 
holiness,"  from  "I)eing  often  and  long  alone 
with  God,"  was  ever  gained  without  the  most 
determined  and  indeed  heroic  struggles  to  at- 
tain it. 

It  seems  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world,  for 
83 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


a  Christian,  having  shut  to  his  door,  to  pray, 
but  in  truth  we  all  do  "believe"  Coleridge  when 
he  says:  "Believe  me.  to  pray  with  all  your 
heart  and  strength,  with  the  reason  and  the 
will;  this  is  the  last,  the  greatest  achievement 
of  a  Christian's  warfare  on  earth.  "  And  this 
is  all  the  more  remarkable  because  prayer  be- 
longs, not  only  to  a  man's  heaven-reaching  re- 
lation, and  the  promises  of  God,  but  to  his 
own  subjective  nature. 

To  quote  Dr.  Theodore  B.  Hyslop :  "As  an 
alienist  and  one  whose  whole  life  has  been 
concerned  with  the  sufferings  of  the  mind,  I 
would  state  that  of  all  hygienic  measures  to 
counteract  disturbed  sleep,  depressed  spirits  and 
all  the  miserable  sequels  of  a  distressed  mind, 
I  would  undoubtedly  give  the  first  place  to 
the  simple  habit  of  prayer.  Such  a  habit  does 
more  to  clean  the  spirit  and  strengthen  the 
soul,  to  overcome  mere  incidental  emotional- 
ism, than  any  other  therapeutic  agent  known 
to  me." 

84 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


Tavo  or  three  years  ago,  in  certain  circles 
of  evangelistic  effort,  it  was  cjuite  the  fashion 
to  quote  the  story  of  a  German  professor,  cele- 
brated for  his  prayers,  and  of  the  surprise  of 
certain  students  who  had  slyly  arranged  to 
overhear  him,  when  in  weariness  at  a  late  hour, 
he  closed  his  book,  he  simply  said :  "Good- 
night, Lord — on  the  same  old  terms!"  and  went 
to  bed.  l-'rom  which  it  was,  in  effect,  argued 
that  we  need  not  be  specially  concerned  about 
our  prayers,  because  God  would  surely  "do 
His  part,"  and  hear  and  answer  "any  old 
prayers." 

If,  however,  the  professor  was  indeed  a  man 
of  extraordinary  habits  in  genuine  prayer,  he 
could  indeed  appeal  to  the  gracious  and  kind- 
ly Master  in  the  weariness  of  an  emergency  of 
faithful  scr\  ice,  and  say,  "Good-night,  Lord — 
on  the  same  old  terms" ;  but  only  as  in  the 
freshness  and  liberty  of  the  early  hours  he 
had  habitually  and  enthusiastically  preferred 
Christ's  society  to  his  own  solitude,  w  ilh  much 
85 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


of  time  and  concentration  of  tliought  devoted 
to  the  preference. 

The  gifts  of  Christ  and  the  ministries  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  are  never  cheap.  In  this.  too.  God 
having-  offered  Himself,  will  not  take  a  "second 
place."  Moreover,  since  the  law  of  life  and 
of  God  demand  emphasized  prayer  at  what- 
ever apparent  sacrihce.  it  is  a  comfort  to  re- 
member that  while  thus  "absent  from  the  body" 
to  be  "present  with  the  Lord,"  the  Lord  Him- 
self will  surely  take  care  of  the  neglected  in- 
terests. He  sendeth  "none  a  warfare  any  time 
at  his  own  charges."  He  calleth  and  detain- 
eth  none  any  time  at  his  own  charges. 

When  called  ])y  the  Prophet  to  turn  his  back 
upon  the  subsidy  which  he  had  alrcatly  paid 
over  to  the  proscribed  Israelites,  Amaziah.  king 
of  Judah,  bewails:  "But  what  shall  we  do  for 
the  hundred  talents  which  1  have  given  to  the 
army  of  Israel?"  Tn  which  the  man  of  God 
replies:  "The  Lord  is  able  to  gi\e  thee  much 
more  than  this."  And  lie  was.  And  the  God 
86 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


of  Israel  having  opened  the  Throne  of  Grace 
and  ordained  prayer,  is  ahle  to  countervail  any 
(Hsadvantages  incurred  by  His  servant,  His 
child,  in  his  steadfast  purpose  to  intently  "see 
His  face,"  and  so  returning,  to  "serve  Him." 

Prof.  Pritchard,  of  Oxford,  asked  if  science 
and  scientific  thinking  tended  to  unsettle  re- 
ligious faith  and  devotion,  replied:  "It  is  prc- 
occiipalioii  of  luiud  rather  than  science  that  is 
and  always  has  been  the  prolific  parent  of 
scepticism  and  religious  indifYerence."  Yes, 
science  and  criticisms  and  "new  thought"  may 
have  slain  their  "thousands,"  but  the  "preoccu- 
])ati(jn  of  mind"  which  for  the  ministers  and 
others  has  precluded  the  appointed  jjrayers,  has 
slain  its  "ten  tliousands." 

The  condition  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  control- 
ling and  sanctifying  visitations — and  hence  the 
conditif)n  of  due  ])ractical  regard  for  tlie  Word 
and  the  ("hrist,  is  in  emphasized  prayer,  as  in 
fact  it  is  alsi)  for  tlic  heroism  whirli  is  to  ac- 
companv  and  How  from  the  three- fold  theism. 
87 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


But  what  of  the  heroism?  It  is  never  to  he 
forgotten  that  no  religion  of  the  head  or  of  the 
heart  can  he  acceptahle  to  God  or  valuahle  to 
man,  unless  it  reaches  and  actuates  the  hand. 
No  true  saint  can  he  an  idler.  In  the  highest 
sense  it  is  true  that  the  Christian  has  got  to 
"work  for  a  living."  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity, in  th.e  graces  of  it,  the  joy  of  it,  the 
triumphs  of  it,  depends  upon  activity — yes,  and 
heroic  actiA-ity.  Here  is  indeed  the  heroism  of 
noblest  achievement,  from  highest  motives — 
Godward,  manward,  inward — with  most  un- 
selfish devotion  and  untiring  exertions. 

When  a  man  enlists  in  the  service  of  the 
Police  or  Fire  Department  of  a  large  city,  or 
in  his  country's  army  or  navy,  it  is  always  with 
the  understaiKling,  that  if  occasion  rec|uire,  he 
shall  exhibit  himself  in  downriglit  heroism. 
The  .same  is  true  of  enlistment  in  the  cause — 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  with  the  additional  speci- 
fication that  "occasion  will  surely,  regularly 
require"  ;  but  with  this  unspeakable  consolation, 
88 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


too,  that  in  his  experience,  the  theism  will  care 
for  the  heroism!  In  all  the  activities  of  the 
New  Testament  Christian ;  God  in  His  Word 
will  enlighten :  (jod  in  Christ  will  inspire :  God 
in  the  Holy  Spirit  will  perform;  and  always, 
first  and  last,  God  will  unfailingly  reward! 

Reference  has  already  heen  made  to  the  sep- 
arate efficiency  of  the  separate  means.  But  the 
theism  and  heroism,  duly  comhined,  give  in 
every  case  the  most  transcendent  and  ever 
gratifying  and  unfailing  results  of  an  entire 
Christianity — in  literally  "Good  tidings  of 
great  joy  which  shall  he  to  all  people." 

From  the  first  century  to  the  twentieth,  no 
Christian  whose  mind  has  glowed,  and  whose 
heart  has  hurned  within  him,  from  the  Word 
of  Christ,  received  in  adoring  worship  of 
Christ,  with  filial  longings  and  importunate  ap- 
plications for  the  Holy  Si)irit,  to  make  him  true 
to  Christ,  with  heroic  consecration  to  Christ — 
no  real  Christian  has  ever  failed  in  happiness  or 
holiness  or  mission  or  hopes,  he  he  layman  or 
.  89 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


minister  or  missionary — living  or  dying,  antici- 
pating tlie  "unseen  world,"  embarking  for  the 
"unseen  world."  Aloreover,  no  aggregation  of 
such  men  in  Church  or  society  has  ever  failed 
in  respect  ot  unity  of  purpose,  or  harmony  of 
opinion,  or  brotherly  love,  or  the  prosecution 
of  the  corporate  enterprises,  or  the  realization 
of  the  common  aims. 

In  view  of  all  this,  is  it  not  evident  that  the 
sectarian  who  wilfully  overloads  the  Church, 
the  "Body  of  Christ,"  and  the  rationalist  who 
devitalizes  it,  are  ef|ually  an  astonishment,  if 
not  an  offence  before  earth  and  heaven  at 
once  ? 

The  boasting  of  the  denominationalist  is 
usually  the  exultation  of  a  fat  man  over  a 
dead  man — confusing  his  fat  with  his  vitality; 
or  of  the  lunatic  who  mistakes  his  excrescence 
for  his  heart,  and  cherishes  the  one  and  neglects 
the  other.  Mr.  Beecher  used  to  pour  out  his 
denunciations  upon  any  person  or  institution 
that  "stood  between  a  man  and  his  oppor- 
90 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

tunity."  His  resurrection  and  return  are  now 
in  order  that  he  may.  with  characteristic  elo- 
quence and  power,  arraign  the  denominational- 
ists  who  stand  between  men  and  communities 
and  their  Christianity,  in  the  apostolic  emanci- 
pation and  fulness  of  it. 

And  here  are  the  liberals,  with  lance  and 
sabre,  prancing  up  and  down  the  glad — the 
vernal  premises  of  a  full  and  eternally  trium- 
phant Christianity,  spearing  and  slashing  away 
at  the  saints,  under  the  banners  of  sociology 
and  ethics,  blind  to  the  Christianity  which  has 
supreme  ethics  and  sociology  and  "all  things" 
beside. 

"W'e  are  living  to-day  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
dissolution."  cries  Dr.  Crapsey — net  particu- 
larly as  a  mourner,  however,  and  apparently 
more  in  exultation  than  tears.  "W'e  are  living 
to-day  in  the  midst  of  great  dissolution.  W'e 
are  standing  by  the  death-bed  of  a  great  re- 
ligion." If  this  is  one  of  the  great  denomina- 
tions that  he  is  talking  alx)ut,  as  in  extremis, 
.91 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


very  well ;  but  Dr.  Crapsey  cannot  point  to  a 
single  fact  or  factor  of  Christianity,  which,  in 
so  far  as  it  is  Christian,  indicates  any  single 
aspect  of  debility — not  to  say  death.  The  New 
Testament  Christianity  has  not  only  power  for 
all  performance,  but  all  emergencies — vitality 
for  functions  and  for  perpetuity.  It  is  like  its 
reigning  Source  and  Objective;  in  omnipotence 
"the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever." 

Moreo\'er,  this  New  Testament  plan  in  its 
sufficiency  will  provide  in  due  fulness  and  due 
limitation,  too,  for  "doctrine,"  and  "creed,"  the 
expression  of  doctrine.  No  sane  man  ever  cries 
out  against  plan  for  performance,  architecture 
for  construction,  quadration  for  navigation, 
science  ior  prescription,  or  philosophy  for  dis- 
covery;  and  no  thoughtful — no  "scientific" 
man  in  the  field  of  religion  cries  out  against 
"theology."  "creed,"  "doctrine."  Yet  as  a  pos- 
sibility and  indeed  as  a  deplorable  certainty  the 
Churches  may  and  do  have  delusive  and  mis- 
chievous superfluity  of  creed. 

92 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


To  stand  for  doctrine  formulated  for  life  is 
scriptural  and  rational.  To  fight  over  doc- 
trines born  of  hereditary  notions  is  madness. 
That  there  is  such  madness,  not  of  a  mild  form, 
not  readily  yielding  to  treatment  and  not  hid 
in  a  corner,  everybody  knows. 

The  practical  adequacy  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment concejitions,  for  not  only  code  but  creed, 
not  only  duty  but  doctrine,  is  continually  il- 
lustrated. A  few  years  ago,  the  Sunday  School 
Times,  while  edited  by  Henry  Clay  Trumbull, 
and  very  clearly  and  very  nearly  exhibiting  a 
New  Testament  Christianity,  gave  a  novel  and 
striking  illustration  of  this.  In  commenting  on 
"Tbe  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge 
o{  (iod,"  and  "To  d(j  whatsoever  thy  hand 
and  tliy  counsel  determined  l)ef(jre  to  be  done" 
— of  the  Acts,  the  Times  drew  the  sharp  criti- 
cism of  the  former  editor  of  the  Christian  Ad- 
vocate for  its  Calvinism.  Whereui)on  the 
Times  quoted  from  various  Methodist  com- 
mentators on  the  same  lesson — and  behold,  they 
93 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

were  more  Calvinistic  than  he  had  been.  As 
the  Methodist  narrator  of  the  story  remarked, 
"There's  where  he  had  us." 

Christianity  can  take  care  of  its  creeds  with- 
out any  help  from  the  denominations. 

Furthermore,  these  New  Testament  Ends 
and  Means  give  the  only  basis  for  Christian  or 
Church  unity.  The  various  "Federations" 
ha\-e  remaining  in  them  the  seeds  of  inevitable 
ultimate  disagreement.  The  elements  in  the 
denominations  which  keep  them  from  organic 
unity  will  keep  them  from  harmony  and  effi- 
ciency in  Federation  unity.  There  is,  in  fact, 
for  Christians  no  unity  worthy  of  the  name 
but  unity  in  and  from  and  for  Christ  Jesus. 
Heaven  will  not  endorse  any  other,  earth  will 
not  accept  any  other,  the  Churches  cannot 
realize  any  other. 

Just  now  the  various  Churches  are  furnish- 
ing for  those  who  have  eyes  to  see,  a  graphic 
illustration  of  all  this.  The  grand  projects  for 
Church  union  in  Canada  have  halted  The 
94 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


union  of  Congregationalists,  Methodist  Protes- 
tant and  United  Brethren  is  recommended  by 
committees,  but  from  the  determined  opposi- 
tion of  prominent  Congregational  pastors  and 
Churches  is  evidently  hopeless. 

The  Presbyterianism  of  the  nation  presents 
an  awkward  and  painful  spectacle  of  here,  re- 
pudiation of  all  unifMi,  and  there,  sharp  dissen- 
tions  in  coiisc(|uence  of  uni(jn,  and  grave  doubts 
of  the  ])ractical  results  of  union  already  con- 
summated. 

The  one  plan  of  Christian  unity  is  already 
partially  on  exhibition  in  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations.  There  is  not  an  ec- 
clesiastical establishment  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  that  can  for  a  moment  compare  with  these 
in  tliis  respect,  and  for  the  reason  that  in 
s[)irit,  and  approximately  in  organization,  they 
are  Christian  and  not  sectarian. 

And  now,  what  in  this  twentieth  century  is 
the  New  Testament  Christianity  waiting  for 
but  this — definite  organization? 

95 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


No  enterprise  in  the  interest  of  a  unique  and 
urgent  cause  which  has  principles  to  he  advo- 
cated and  apphed,  a  message  to  be  dehvered, 
forces  to  be  made  effective,  a  creed  to  be  assimi- 
lated for  life,  can  be  prosecuted  without  spe- 
cific organization.  Moreover  the  organization 
must  be  most  discriminatingly  and  sharply  cen- 
tralized in  a  very  few  essential  particulars. 
With  the  notorious  limitations  of  human  time 
and  thought  and  energy  and  temper  and  re- 
sources, no  organization  can  accommodate 
many  factors  or  any  idiosyncrasies. 

But  is  it  said  the  formulations  here  will  be 
difficult?  Not  very.  It  may  take  time. 
"Everything  takes  ten  years,"  Abram  S.  Hewitt 
declares,  and  this  reform  may  take  ten  years — ■ 
but  it  is  entirely  feasible.  i\  thousand  voices 
protest.  "Church  union  is  desiral)le  but  not 
feasible."  Oh,  yes,  it  is  feasible.  For  one 
thing,  "it  is  in  the  air."  Dr.  U.  S.  Bartz 
writes:  "Happily  it  is  no  longer  necessary  to 
try  to  prove  that  organic  Church  union  is  con- 
96 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


sonant  with  the  will  of  Christ.  If  anybody 
doubts  it,  he  must  be  a  pessimist  indeed  as  to 
the  progress  of  the  Spirit's  influence  upon  the 
Body  of  Christ.  Church  union  is  so  much  'in 
the  air'  that  the  religious  atmosphere  must  be 
considered  either  highly  salutary  or  woefully 
noxious." 

Let  the  Christian  men  and  women  who  burn 
with  Bible  zeal  for  God  and  men,  first  take  an 
airing  up  and  down  lower  Broadway  and  W'all 
Street,  and  watch  rachcally  dififering  men  co- 
operating with  tremendous  energy  and  trium- 
phant successes  in  organizations  strictly  trimmed 
to  ends  and  means.  Then  let  them  take  a  keen 
look  at  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations, 
at  home  and  abroad ;  then  Northfield ;  then  the 
Moody  Church  at  Chicago;  then  the  Honolulu 
Union  Church :  then  the  Messrs.  Keigwin, 
BaragAvanath  and  Hartley,  in  union  services 
in  New  York. 

What  means  it  indeed  that  pastors,  Presby- 
terian, Methodist  and  Baptist,  with  their 
■97 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Church  officers  and  members,  in  the  very  heart 
of  wide-awake  and  positive  New  York,  in 
Christian  fellowship  and  cooperation,  unite  in 
everything  pertaining  to  the  New  Testament 
faith — Bible  knowledge,  deeper  spiritual  life, 
salvation  of  the  lost,  purification  and  uplift  of 
the  community,  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per— everything  ? 

It  means  that  what  "man  has  done"  tem- 
porarily and  locally  and  despite  denominational 
embarrassments,  "'man  may  do"  permanently 
and  extensively  and  in  the  full  "liberty  of  the 
children  of  God,"  boundlessly. 

And  what  means  this  record  of  the  Central 
Union  Church  of  Honolulu  to  which  was  called 
several  years  ago,  Rev.  William  M.  Kincaid, 
a  Presbyterian  of  Minneapolis?  "It  is  an 
unique  religious  tody,  possibly  the  only  one 
of  its  kind  in  the  world.  It  is  founded  upon 
the  most  liberal  basis,  five  simple  facts  form- 
ing its  creed.  It  owes  allegiance  to  ro  de- 
nomination or  sect,  Init  is  an  organization  by 
98 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


itself.  Among  its  members  are  included  fami- 
lies from  the  Methodist,  Baptist  and  Presby- 
terian Churches.  It  is  the  oldest  and  largest 
cliurch  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  and,  in  fact, 
has  founded  nearly  all  the  other  churches  there. 
In  its  membership  are  included  five  hundred 
families,  practically  all  the  English-speaking 
people  in  Honolulu,  and  all  the  Government 
officers. 

The  church  is  a  remarkably  strong  and  ag- 
gressive body.  Mr.  Kincaid  says  that  its  or- 
ganization is  the  best  that  he  has  ever  known. 
A  new  church  building,  with  a  seating  cajiacity 
of  two  thousand,  has  recently  been  completed 
at  a  cost  of  $130,000,  all  of  which  has  been 
paid.  The  church  is  free  from  debt.  An  idea 
of  its  strength  and  liberal  policy  may  be  gained 
from  the  fact  that  in  the  last  year  $9,000  was 
raised  for  the  expenses  of  the  parish  and  $30,- 
000  for  charitable  and  nu'ssion  work. 

The  Central  Union  C  hurch  owns  a  steamer, 
which  goes  out  every  year  to  the  Caroline  and 
•  99 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Philippine  Islands  and  among  the  other  islands 
of  the  Hawaiian  group,  carrying  missionaries 
and  supplies  for  the  work  in  those  islands.  A 
large  numher  of  missionary  workers  are  en- 
tirely supported  hy  this  church." 

It  means  that  at  home  and  abroad  in  the 
sanctified  wisdom  of  men  delivered  at  last  from 
the  "malignancy  of  a  false  perspective,"  and 
the  ever  reconstructing  energy  of  the  God  of 
the  New  Testament,  the  "Dream  of  the  dreamer 
who  dreams  that  he  dreams"  will  soon  be  a 
twentieth  century  reality,  with  ecclesiasticism 
and  denominationalism,  in  the  fires  of  God, 
first  dissolved  and  then  crystalizcd,  to  reappear 
in  the  consummate  composition  of  Organized 
Christianity ! 


100 


CHAPTER  III 


But  what  are  the  special  hindrances  which 
in  the  past  have  precluded  and  in  the  present 
delay  the  realization  of  organized  Christianity? 

To  which  the  answer  is,  the  three  Prides — 
Pride  of  Rationalism,  Denominational  Pride 
of  Ecclesiastical  Power,  and  Denominational 
Pride  of  Creed  Opinion. 

The  Pride  of  Rationalism  has  ohtruded  it- 
self upon  the  Church  in  all  its  history,  and 
now  as  always,  invoking'  discoveries  and  con- 
jectures of  science — often  falsely  so  called — 
and  the  results  of  critical  studies  usually  de- 
structive, is  set  to  minify  that  which  is  heavenly 
and  divine,  and  magnify  that  which  is  earthly 
and  human.  Just  now  it  boasts  great  things  on 
the  basis  of  ever  lluctuating  scientific  and  critical 
conclusions,  and  meanwhile  is  hard  to  detineand 

lOI 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

discuss,  because  uuder  various  tol<ens  of  "Liber- 
als," "New  Tlieology,"  "The  Scientific  Meth- 
od," "New  Thought,"  etc.,  its  disciples  take 
rank  all  the  way  from  pantheism  or  atheism 
across  to  the  gates  of  orthodoxy. 

This,  however,  may  be  said  of  it :  it  utterly 
fails  to  "make  good." 

This  is  true  even  of  a  reasoning  intellectu- 
ality, to  which  with  this  variegated  cult,  every- 
thing is  ultimately  referred. 

The  liberal  ranks  number,  no  doubt,  scholar- 
ly and  eloquent  men,  but  for  us  and  our  house, 
give  us  still  in  preference,  for  pure  reason- 
ing intellectuality.  Thomas  Chalmers,  Charles 
Hodge,  Richard  S.  Storrs.  William  E.  Glad- 
stone, Charles  Parkhurst,  Joseph  Cook,  and  a 
kindred  host. 

Then  the  poetic  sentimentality  on  the  throne 
of  thought  and  reason ! 

Take  the  factor  of  sin  as  in  man  and  society 
and  before  God.  "Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin." 
These  wise  men  ignore  it — as  God  has  por- 

102 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

trayed  and  man  in  fact  knows  it,  outside  and 
inside.  They  sentimentally  call  it  "a  misfor- 
tune or  disease,  or  a  necessary  condition  of  at- 
taining jjerfection — a  fall  forward,"  while  uni- 
versal facts  overwhelmingly  confirm  the  Bible 
representation  of  its  hateful  vileness,  its  leprous 
meanness,  and  reason  as  well  as  Scripture,  de- 
clares that  if  at  all  God  be  God  in  holiness  and 
ideals,  it  must  be  supremely  abhorrent  to  Him. 
1^'urthermore  in  the  way  of  relief  from  it,  rea- 
son coincides  with  Scripture  and  through  W'il- 
helm  ITcrrman,  for  example  (who,  "in  obsti- 
nate rationality,  is  a  master  in  logic  and  phi- 
losophy, and  deals  with  realities  and  not  with 
words"),  declares:  "It  is  cpiite  right  that  men 
are  unwilling  to  let  go  the  thought  that  redemp- 
tion has  been  won  by  the  vicarious  sufferings 
of  Christ." 

The  palpably  "urgent  illustrations  of  "the  ex- 
ceeding sinfulness  of  sin,"  the  depravity  of 
human  nature,  are  open  to  view  on  every  hand, 
103 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


in  every  region,  every  rank,  and  have  been 
in  every  age. 

What  is  this  that  a  thonghtful  writer  in  a 
secular  magazine  lately  told  us  of  a  mother 
in  Fez — not  exceptionally  degraded — who  of- 
fered, for  a  gold-plated  watch,  to  sell  to  him, 
out  and  out,  her  twelve-year-old  daughter — a 
noble  child,  whose  picture  the  writer  gave? 
What  sow  or  she-bear  would  have  done  this? 

Lately  in  France,  when  from  a  railroad  col- 
lision many  Americans  were  hurt,  and  some  in 
and  under  broken  cars  crushed  and  bleeding, 
a  family  in  an  uninjured  car  pulled  down  the 
curtains  and  locked  the  doors,  lest  the  rescued 
wounded  and  dying  might  be  brought  in.  What 
Newfoundland  or  St.  Bernard  dog  would  have 
done  that? 

Here  in  New  York  we  have,  to  be  sure,  under 
the  direct  or  indirect  constraints  of  Christian 
civilization.  fre(|uent  cxhiljitidns  of  unselfish 
and  heroic  manhood  (often  only  half  appre- 
ciated), on  the  part  of  our  firemen  or  police- 
104 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY- 

men,  to  excite  our  admiration  for  what  man 
may  be  and  do,  but  all  about  us,  none  the  less, 
are  the  illustrations  of  the  most  villainous  de- 
pravity, in  the  most  infernal  meanness,  as  to 
men  and  children  and  especially  as  to  women, 
and  P)il)le  and  facts  declare  the  sin  of  the  human 
heart — and  rational  intelligence  accepts  the 
demonstration — even  though  it  may  be  pleas- 
ingly sentimental  to  reject  it. 

Says  Due  de  Rochefoucauld:  "In  the  ad- 
versity of  our  best  friends,  we  often  find  some- 
thing which  does  not  displease  us" ;  and  Ed- 
mund Burke:  "I  am  convinced  that  we  have 
a  degree  of  delight  and  that  no  small  one  in 
the  real  misfortunes  and  pains  of  others." 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  noted  the  same  dis])osi- 
tion  surviving  even  in  Christian  hearts,  as  to 
the  failings  of  others,  and  declared  that  he 
wcndd  not  st<)])  to  say  that  it  was  "unchristian" 
because  it  was  "infernal"! 

Behold  this  sentimental  girl  in  a  New  ^'ork 
criminal  court  room.  She  knows  that  govern- 
105 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

ment  and  law  are  real  and  repugnant  to  crime. 
She  knows  that  the  judge  on  the  bench  repre- 
sents law  and  righteousness  and  justice,  and  is 
called  upon  by  facts  and  principles  alike,  and 
by  the  safety,  stability,  welfare  of  society,  to 
pronounce  severe  sentence  upon  the  already 
convicted  prisoner  in  the  cage,  who  has  been 
indeed  guilty  of  the  most  tleliberate.  cruel  and 
dastardly  murder  from  the  meanest  motives. 
But  she  declares  that  having  "found  herself" 
and  having  "ideas  and  ideals,"  now  from  her 
own  "interior  consciousness,"  she  knows  that 
the  justice,  with  whom  she  is  acquainted  as  a 
kind  and  loving  father,  will  never,  never,  never 
sentence  a  fellow  man  to  death !  Still  he  does, 
and  the  miscreant  goes  to  the  electric  chair 
just  the  same,  and  the  susceptible  party  dis- 
covers that  unreasoning  sentimentality  does  not 
dominate  the  uni\'erse — and  cannot  any  more 
interpret  it.  And  there  be  editors  and  minis- 
ters, not  a  few,  who,  resembling  her  in  theories, 
106 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

may  well  profit  by  her  experience,  and  share  in 
her  enlightenment. 

But  not  only  in  what  Carlyle  calls  "the  dam- 
nable consciousness  of  no  sin,"  do  the  liberals 
fail  ui  intellectual  reasonableness,  but  as  to 
all  the  deeper  facts  and  principles  of  earth  and 
heaven. 

St.  John  asks  pertinently:  "He  that  loveth 
not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can  he 
love  (jod  whom  he  hath  not  seen?"  Corre- 
spondingly :  He  that  misses  and  confuses  the 
laws  and  facts  of  the  earth,  that  he  hath  seen, 
how  can  he  independently  interpret  the  laws 
and  facts  of  the  overruling  heaven,  that  he  hath 
not  seen  ? 

Men  talk  about  the  "FathcrlKK)d  of  God." 
What  do  they  know  about  the  i'\-Uhcrhood  of 
God,  or  any  of  the  profound  realities  of  Ills 
earthly  or  heavenly  administration,  without  a 
revelation  frf)m  Him  about  them — what  ever 
from  their  own  "interior  consciousness."  which 
107 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


has  notoriously  no  more  abiding  validity  than 
"a  dream  when  one  awaketh"  ? 

Even  Herbert  Spencer  recognizes  a  present 
need  for  a  prospective  and  revealed  heaven, 
and  says :  "The  prospect  of  heaven  makes 
life  tolerable  to  many  who  would  else  find  it 
intolerable.  In  some  with  shattered  constitu- 
tions and  perpetual  pains,  caused  perhaps  by 
undue  efforts  for  the  benefit  of  dependents,  the 
daily  thought  of  a  compensating  future  is  the 
sole  assuaging  consciousness.  .  .  .  And  there 
are  many  who  stagger  on  under  the  exhausting 
burden  of  daily  duties,  fulfilled  without  thanks 
and  without  sympath}-,  who  are  enabled  to  bear 
their  ills  by  the  conviction  that  after  this  life 
will  come  a  life  free  from  pains  and  weariness. 
Nothing  Init  evil  can  follow  a  change  in  the 
creed  of  such:  and  unless  cruelly  thoughtless, 
the  agnostic  will  carefully  shun  discussion  of 
religious  subjects  with  them." 

Yes,  and  a  hope  of  heaven  is  necessary,  not 
only  to  many  "with  shattered  constitutions  and 
1 08 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

perpetual  pains,"  who  "stagger  on  under  the 
exhausting  hurden  of  daily  duties,"  but  to 
every  man,  and  not  only  the  expectation  of 
heaven,  hut  the  present  daily  ministries  of 
heaven,  and  then  for  these,  reliahle  informa- 
tion al)out  heaven.  As  to  all  these,  man's  need 
and  ignorance  are  coextensive  and  liberals  can- 
not enlighten  him  as  to  either  realities  or  con- 
ditions. No,  "the  new  understanding  of  the 
subconscious  realm  of  mind,"'  whatever  else  it 
can  do,  cannot  give  the  faintest  clear  token  of 
heaven's  existence  or  attractions  or  present  con- 
tributions, or  ultimate  terms  of  admission,  and 
liberals  who  attempt  the  spiritual  guidance  of 
their  fellow  men,  are  "cruelly  thoughtless,"  in- 
deed. 

The  liberal  who  reaches  the  summit  of  his 
religious  faith,  in  the  ethical  teachings  of  Christ 
as  edited  and  interpreted  by  his  own  "interior 
consciousness,"  cannot  make  good  any  promise 
of  light,  as  to  the  law  of  God,  or  the  love  of 
God,  or  the  heaven  of  God,  and  is  sharply  re- 
109 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


buked  by  Renan  himself,  who  says :  "Candid- 
ly speaking,  I  fail  to  see  how,  without  the  an- 
cient dreams  [of  evangelical  faith]  the  foun- 
dations of  a  hajDpy  and  noble  life  are  to  be 
relaid.  .  .  .  The  ruin  of  idealistic  beliefs  may  be 
fated  to  follow^  hard  upon  the  ruin  of  super- 
natural beliefs,  and  the  real  abasement  of  the 
morality  of  humanity  date  from  the  day  it  has 
seen  the  reality  of  things."  Nothing  in  fact 
is  plainer  from  causes  in  God  and  man  alike, 
than  that  with  the  "ruin  of  supernatural  Ije- 
liefs"  all  spiritual  forces  and  hopes  for  man- 
kind will  have  been,  in  our  recognitions,  for- 
feited forever. 

In  fact,  the  liberal  cannot  make  good  for  his 
own  spiritual  needs.  Says  Dr.  Pentecost: 
"One  of  the  most  distinguished  scholars  of  the 
advanced  school  of  Higher  Criticism  frankly 
confessed  to  me  that  his  coiu'crsion  and  present 
peace  with  Gcxl  were  based  on  the  \  icarious  and 
substitutionary  sacrifice  of  Christ,  and  that  even 
now  in  daily  asking  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins 
I  lo 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

he  always  appealed  to  the  divine  sacrifice  of 
Christ,  as  Evangelicals  understand  it.  At  the 
same  time  he  declared  that  he  could  not  himself 
preach  that  gospel,  on  account  of  its  unphilo- 
sophical  and  unscientific  character." 

And  who  that  has  attended  the  services  of 
any  hut  the  most  ice-hound  of  the  new  thought 
preachers  has  not  seen  and  heard  and  felt  the 
same  incompatibility  between  rationalistic  the- 
ories and  experience? 

According  to  the  testimony  of  God  and  auto- 
biography alike,  for  life  and  the  love  of  God, 
mind  and  heart  are  both  rationally  enlisted. 
William  Alexander's  saying :  ''That  the  true 
crown  of  any  soul  in  dying  is  Christ,  not 
genius,  and  is  faith,  not  thought."  is  far  better 
rendered:  The  true  crown  of  any  soul  in  dying 
or  in  living  is  Christ  and  genius,  and  is  faith 
and  thought.  In  this  duality  within,  true  men 
must  ever  live  and  hope  and  preach  and  die. 
They  cannot  ultimately  (|uit  the  track  of  Christ 
1 1 1 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

and  faitli,  however  temporarily  derailed  by 
thought  and  genius. 

Furthermore,  as  already  hinted,  liberals 
break  down  when  personally  before  God.  If 
these  men  prayed  as  they  publish,  we  should 
hear  familiarly :  God,  I  thank  Thee  that  I 
am  not  as  other  men  are,  according  to  their 
own  penetential  testimony,  inadequate  in  mind, 
unstable  in  heart,  fluctuating  in  affections,  and 
in  their  state  and  activities,  dependent  on  Thee, 
and  the  power  and  demonstration  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  I  thank  Thee  that  I  am  not  as  other 
men  are,  imploringly  calling  upon  Thee  for 
power  to  pray  and  praise  and  preach,  and  con- 
tritely asking  for  grace  in  view  of  failures  and 
mistakes  in  the  past :  or  even  as  these  poor 
humble  traditionalists,  who  believe  in  Thy 
Word  and  say  they  are  "earthen  vessels,"  with 
all  "excellency  of  power"  from  above  them.  I, 
having  ideas  and  ideals  and  reliable  self-con- 
sciousness, am  self-sufilicient  and  e(|ual  to  the 
situation,  above  and  around  and  within.  I 

1 12 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


praise  Thee  for  my  power  and  privilege  to  sit 
in  judgment  on  Thy  Word,  and  to  be  surely 
accepted  of  Thee  in  my  rejections  and  limita- 
tions of  its  contents.  I  thank  Thee  for  Christ's 
life  and  words,  and  my  intellectual  competency 
for  critically  culling  from  them  and  finally  in- 
terpreting them  for  myself  and  others.  I  thank 
thee  that  I  have  vision,  and  not  only  detect  the 
laws  and  facts  of  heaven,  but  know  intuitively 
and  exactly  and  fully  how  to  pray  for  myself 
and  others,  and  this  without  distraction  or 
volatility  of  thought  or  feeling,  and  how  to 
preach  from  highest,  holiest  motives,  with  pre- 
cise and  most  completely  successful  adaptation 
to  the  hundreds  of  men,  women  and  children, 
in  all  the  variations  of  their  thought,  feeling, 
experience,  relationshij),  privileges,  duties,  des- 
tiny. I  thank  Thee  for  my  "inner  light"  and 
its  all  illuminating  adequacy. 

S(jmething  like  all  this  we  should  hear  from 
liberal  preachers,  if  they  prayed  consistently. 
But  they  do  not  and  cannot  so  pray,  because 
"3 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

the  soul  is  abashed  in  the  presence  of  its  God, 
and  the  soul's  conscience,  which  unlike  the 
thought  "consciousness"  of  which  they  l»ast, 
is  real  and  regnant,  and  before  God — as  He 
is  addressed  face  to  face,  forbids  it  and  as  St. 
Peter  would  say,  "puts  to  silence  the  ignorance 
of  foolish  men."  Not  a  man  of  them  all  can 
in  the  light  and  intimacies  of  a  personal  audi- 
ence with  God  comfortably  pray  for  ten  min- 
utes, with  his  soul  satisfied  in  respect  of  either 
conceptions,  sentiments  or  expressions.  All 
enlightened  men  either  pray  vertically,  and  in 
the  exercise  keep  away  from  God,  or  praying 
horizontally.  ap]jroach  Him  as  Evangelical 
■Christians  do,  with  the  deepest  self-abasement, 
until  Christ  is  sighted,  and  the  heavenly  music 
detected — "Grace  doth  much  more  abound," 
and  then  the  most  triumi)hant  joyfulness,  in 
the  closest  intimacies  of  filial  faitli  and  love! 

Moreover,  liberals  fail  to  make  good  their 
claims,  on  any  ground,  for  a  separate  existence. 

The  Outlook  of  Sept.  14,  1907,  criticises  cer- 
114 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

tain  denoniinationa!  weeklies  for  censuring  men 
like  Dr.  Gordon,  of  Boston,  C.  E.  Jefferson, 
Josiah  Strong,  and  Presidents  Faunce  of 
Brown  and  Taylor  of  Vassar  for  being  identi- 
fied with  the  "International  Congress  of  Re- 
ligious Liberals."  at  Boston,  in  September.  Is 
this  criticism  sound?  W'eW,  that  depends.  If 
six  Unitarians  invite  an  Ev^angelical  to  become 
a  seventh,  and  man  a  life-boat  to  rescue  the 
shrieking  passengers  of  a  ship,  pounding  to 
pieces  on  the  outer  bar;  if  in  a  railway  wreck 
a  Unitarian  proposes  partnership  in  the  ur- 
gent business  of  prying  and  dragging  out  the 
maimed  and  dying  and  dead;  if  a  Unitarian 
physician  or  philanthroi)ist  invites  an  Evan- 
gelical to  aid  in  extirpation  of  disease,  or  in 
feeding  the  hungry,  or  in  "Sunshine"  work,  he 
is  vvfeakly  and  wickedly  silly  who  would  refuse 
from  any  scruples  oi  orthodoxy.  But  sup])ose 
now  that  there  is  no  emergency  in  the  case,  and 
there  are  possible  and  actual,  two  institutions 
for  the  help  of  men  for  ethical  and  socialistic 
115 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

work  on  tlie  same  territory.  Here  is  one,  a 
purely  etliical  and  human  institution  (even 
though  quoting  the  supposed  ethical  teachings 
and  example  of  Christ),  yet  boldly  announced 
as  including  all  things  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Here  is  another,  a  Christian  Church  indeed, 
resting  on  the  New  Testament  basis — having 
due  regard  for  Christ  and  holiness  and  fellow- 
ship and  also  the  highest  possible  enterprises 
for  the  relief  and  uplift  of  men — all  with  due 
theism  and  heroism — with  the  ethical  work  of 
course  as  grandly  effective  as  God  Himself, 
being  duly  invoked,  can  make  it.  Now  if  the 
Rev.  C.  E.  Jefferson  and  his  Evangelical  asso- 
ciates, having  the  choice,  prefer  the  former  of 
these  institutions,  they  are  open  to  admonition 
from  the  ranks  of  orthodoxy,  and  is  it  too  much 
to  say? — to  criticism  from  all  intelligent  men. 

No  doubt  they  would  consistently  patronize 
"Abana  and  Pharpar,  riv'ers  of  Damascus," 
w^hich  ha\e  indeed  some  superficial  factors  in 
common  with  the  "waters  of  Israel,"  if  they. 
ii6 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

could  do  no  better,  but  if  the  banks  of  God's 
own  Jordan  are  open  to  them,  will  they  not 
surely  hasten  hither,  and  there  abide,  as  in  a 
more  congenial  situation  for  themselves,  and 
others  depending  upon  them  ? 

They  can  display  their  energies,  to  be  sure, 
in  a  remote  corner  of  the  camp  of  Israel,  if  there 
be  no  Tabernacle  or  Holy  of  Holies,  but  not 
this  consistently,  if  the  corner  is  in  rivalry 
W'ith  the  heaven-lit  center,  and  the  Holy  Place 
of  God  is  slighted  in  the  experiment. 

With  a  modern  IMoses  and  God  on  the  one 
side,  and  Aaron  and  his  fellow  liberals  com- 
placently rehearsing:  "These  be  thy  gods, 
thy  ethical  gods,  O  Israel,  which  brought  thee 
up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt" — on  the  other,  as 
they  build  ethical  altars  and  with  "new 
thought"  and  the  "scientific  spirit,"  anoint 
themselves  High  Priests,  New  Testament 
Christians  belong  over  with  Moses  and  (iod. 

Says  the  Outlook:  "Certain  denominational 
weeklies  not  realizing  that  religion  unites  where 
117 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

theology  divides,  have  attacked  these  men."  in 
which  are  two  mistakes ;  one  that  New  Testa- 
ment rehgion  consists  in  ethics,  and  not  in 
theism  and  heroism  as  inchuhng  ethics,  the 
other,  that  the  "Theology"  of  hereditaiy  de- 
nominational notions  is  the  only  alternative  set 
over  against  liheralism. 

The  vanity,  and  indeed,  the  stark  madness  of 
our  new  attempt  to  substitute  human  maxims 
of  culture,  morality  and  the  virtues,  for  the 
"Old,  Old  Story."  are  most  impressively  illus- 
trated in  the  career  of  Dr.  Thomas  Chalmers. 
During  the  first  twelve  years  of  his  earnest  and 
able  ministry,  as  his  biographer  writes,  "Al- 
though his  nature  was  genial  and  benevolent — 
though  he  had  his  chosen  friends  and  longed  to 
elevate  his  parishioners  to  a  higher  level  of 
intelligence,  and  domestic  comfort,  and  virtu- 
ous enjoyment — he  had  not  discovered  any 
Being  possessed  of  such  paramount  claims,  and 
o\'erwhelming  attractions,  as  to  make  it  end 
enough  to  live  and  labor  for  His  sake.  But 
ii8 


O  RGA  X I  ZED  CH  R I  ST  I  AN  IT  Y 

that  discovery  he  made  while  writing  for  an 
encyclopaedia  an  article  on  Christianity.  The 
death  of  a  relation  is  said  to  have  saddened  his 
mind  into  more  than  usual  thoughtfulness,  and 
whilst  engaged  in  the  researches  which  his 
task  demanded,  the  scheme  of  God  was  mani- 
fested to  his  astonished  understanding,  and  the 
Son  of  God  was  revealed  to  his  admiring  and 
adoring  affections!" 

On  page  205.  Vol.  IV  of  his  "Select 
Works,"  occurs  his  eloquent  avowal  of  this 
change,  from  which  the  following  is  an  ex- 
tract : 

"I  cannot  hut  record  the  effect  of  an  actual, 
though  undesigned,  experiment  which  I  prose- 
cuted for  upward  of  twehe  years  among  you. 
h'or  the  greater  ])art  of  that  time  1  could  ex- 
patiate on  the  manners  of  dishonesty,  on  vil- 
lainy of  falsehood,  (in  the  des])icahle  arts  of 
calumny;  in  a  word,  upon  all thosedeformitiesof 
character  w  hich  awake  thenatural  indignationof 
the  human  heart  against  the  pests  and  the  dis- 
119 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

turbers  of  human  society.  It  never  occurred  to 
me  that  all  this  might  have  been  done,  and  yet 
every  soul  of  every  hearer  might  ha\  e  remained 
in  full  alienation  from  God.  .  .  .  But  the  in- 
teresting fact  is  that  during  the  whole  of  that 
period  in  which  I  made  no  attempt  against  the 
natural  enmity  of  the  mind  to  God,  I  certainly 
did  press  the  reformations  of  honor  and  truth 
and  integrity  among  my  people,  but  I  never 
once  heard  of  any  such  reformation  ha^'ing 
been  effected  among  them.  I  am  not  sensible 
that  all  the  vehemence  with  which  I  urged  the 
virtues  and  the  proprieties  of  social  life  had  the 
weight  of  a  feather  on  the  moral  habits  of  my 
parishioners.  And  it  was  not  till  I  got  im- 
pressed by  the  utter  alienation  of  the  heart  in 
all  its  desires  and  affections  from  God ;  it  was 
not  till  reconciliation  to  Him  became  the  dis- 
tinct and  the  prominent  object  of  my  ministerial 
exertions;  it  was  not  till  the  free  offer  of  for- 
giveness through  the  blood  of  Christ  was  urged 
upon  their  acceptance,  and  the  Holy  Spirit 

120 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

given  through  the  channel  of  Christ's  media- 
tion to  all  who  ask  Him,  was  set  before  them 
as  the  unceasing  object  of  their  dependence  and 
their  prayers,  that  I  ever  heard  of  any  of  those 
sulx)rdinate  reformations  which  I  aforetime 
made  the  earnest  and  the  zealous,  but,  I  am 
afraid,  at  the  same  time,  the  ultimate  object  of 
my  earlier  ministrations.  You  have  taught  me 
that  to  preach  Christ  is  the  only  effective  way 
of  preaching  morality  in  all  its  branches;  and 
out  of  your  humble  cottages  have  I  gathered 
a  lesson  which  I  pray  God  tliat  T  may  be  en- 
abled to  carry,  with  all  its  simplicity,  into  a 
wider  theater." 

Says  Dr.  Charles  Parkhurst :  "When  a 
preacher  says  that  the  fundamental  fact  in 
Christianity  is  not  conversicjn  to  a  jjersonal 
I'hrist,  but  conversion  to  the  humanitarian  work 
that  Christ  came  to  do  and  encourage,  he  is 
giving  the  direct  lie  to  facts  as  the  Gosi)el  states 
them,  to  the  truth  as  Christ  declared  it,  and  to 
the  Spirit  as  the  first  disciples  e.xemi)lifie(l  it." 

121 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

The  Pride  of  Rationalism  just  now  so  vari- 
ously in  evidence,  as  substituting  man's  culture, 
thought  and  schemes  of  reformation,  for  Bible 
religion  in  its  glad  entirety,  is  indeed  one  of  the 
Hindrances  to  the  Organized  Christianity  of 
the  New  Testament — though,  to  be  sure,  of 
short  duration.  It  is  really  a  recrudescence  of 
Judaism  and  not  Christianity.  Human  nature, 
witli  Emerson,  cries :  "If  you  want  to  raise 
me.  you  must  stand  above  me"  ;  and  men,  awak- 
ened men.  eagerly  demand  what  God  immutably 
assigns — heaven-given  Christianity. 

Meanwhile,  with  life  so  short  and  God  so 
urgent  and  man  so  straitened,  does  it  not  seem 
a  pity  indeed  that  journals  like  the  Outlook 
and  I micpcudciit  and  nieasurably  the  Homilet- 
ical  Rcz'icw  and  Christian  Work  ami  Evangel- 
ist should  devote  so  much  time  and  such  noble 
gifts  to  an  enterprise  which  has  no  raison  d'etre 
whatever,  and  in  which  things  delusively  par- 
tial are  substituted  for  and  inimical  to  the  di- 

122 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


vine  fulness  of  God's  family  and  redemption 
love  and  plans  ? 

.  But  what  of  Denominational  Pride  of  Ec- 
clesiastical Power?  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity, after  world-wide  triumphs,  "through 
much  tribulation,"  for  three  centuries,  was  be- 
trayed into  the  hands  of  ecclesiastical  ambition, 
and  until  the  Reformation,  remained  in  bond- 
age, with  every  factor  of  its  ends  and  means 
per\erted  to  the  ingenious  purposes  and  am- 
bitious pretensions,  of  the  Roman  hierarchy. 
Our  Saviour  was  indeed  recognized  in  theory, 
but  in  fact,  according  to  Mark  Twain's  obser- 
vations afterward,  usually  presented  in  subor- 
dination to  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  reigning  Pon- 
tiflf.  some  favorite  cardinal,  some  canonized 
saint,  and  then  as  an  infant  in  arms. 

Development  of  spiritual  character  was  such 
as  officiating  priests  with  official  benedictions 
and  ceremonies  could  effect :  Fellowship,  not 
of  Christ's  sanctified  followers  as  such,  but 
punctilious  church  members  as  such  :  Works  ac- 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


cepted  and  rewarded,  not  so  much  as  they  honor 
God  and  avail  for  sinning  and  wretched  men, 
but  as  they  celel^rate  the  sacred  persons  and 
promote  the  rehgious  institutions  of  the  Roman 
Church  :  The  Bible  held  back  from  at  once  the 
personal  "search"  of  the  people,  and  the  ration- 
al and  scientific  "criticism"  of  reverent  scholar- 
ship; The  Holy  Spirit  efificacious  only  at  the 
pleasure  and  in  the  rites  of  priest  or  bishop. 

And  with  what  results?  The  results  which 
always  follow  when  men  usurp  the  prerogati\'es 
of  God — w^eak  and  beclouded  intellectuality 
and  conscientiousness  in  high  places ;  vice  and 
ignorance  in  low  places;  civic  corruption  and 
"graft"  in  the  state;  God  and  His  Church  dis- 
honored, and  man  in  sin  and  misery  neglected. 

Says  Dr.  Charles  Parkhurst :  "In  this  con- 
nection it  occurs  to  me  to  wonder  whether  we, 
who  claim  to  be  thorough-going  Protestants, 
are  not  treating  Catholicism,  and  the  system  of 
moral  dry-rot  that  Catholicism  is  bound  to  en- 
gender, with  a  gingerliness  that  even  the  most 
124 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

generous  liberality  of  Christian  view  is  no  suf- 
ficient warrant  for.  Granting  that  we  are  under 
obHgations  to  treat  with  deference  the  rehgious 
views  of  others,  we  have  no  business  to  treat 
with  any  degree  of  consideration  a  system 
nominally  religious  that  is  nevertheless  leav- 
ing, and  everywhere  leaving,  a  religious  and 
moral  blight  behind  it.  The  proper  purpose  of 
religion  is  to  produce  the  finest  type  of  per- 
sonal manhood  and  womanhood.  Religion  is 
not  good  for  anything,  as  religion,  unless  it 
will  do  that :  and  the  Catholic  religion — by 
which  I  am  understanding  of  course  now  the 
Papacy — is  not  doing  that,  and  has  not  been 
doing  it  for  centuries.  The  very  thing  that 
Protestantism  is  laboring  to  construct.  Catholi- 
cism is  calculated  to  do  nothing  but  destroy.  The 
Papacy  is  not  christianizing  the  world,  but  dere- 
ligionizing  it.  In  confirmation  of  this  we  have 
only  to  look  at  Spain.  Italy.  France.  Belgium. 
The  more  operative  the  Catholic  Church  has 
been  in  any  country,  the  worse  the  condition  it 
125 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


leaves  it  in.  There  is  no  use  in  blinking  these 
matters.  Facts  are  facts.  Roman  CathoHcisni, 
as  at  the  present  administered,  is  an  incubus 
upon  the  body,  mind  and  conscience  of  every 
nation  and  every  institution  that  comes  in  any 
measure  under  its  inlluence  and  despotism." 

But  strange  to  say,  the  Pride  of  Ecclesiastical 
Power  is  wonderfully  fascinating  after  all.  As 
usual  with  the  multitudes,  and  to  an  astonish- 
ing degree  even  with  intelligent  thinkers,  pre- 
posterous claims  in  the  name  of  religion  with 
no  ultimate  validity  whatever — whether  of 
Catholic  or  Episcopalian  or  Christian  Scientist 
or  Mormon — will  marvelously  carry  the  day,  if 
adroitly  formulated  and  then  solemnly  and  per- 
sistently asserted. 

So  one  is  interested  to  read  in  Cardinal  New- 
man's "Apologia,"  of  Ilurrell  Froude — to  the 
end  an  adherent  of  the  Church  of  England  : 
"He  professed  openly  his  admiration  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  his  hatred  of  the  Reform- 
ers. He  delighted  in  the  notion  of  an  hier- 
126 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

archical  system,  of  sacerdotal  power  and  full 
ecclesiastical  liberty.  He  felt  scorn  of  the  max- 
im, 'The  Bible  and  the  Bible  only  is  the  religion 
of  Protestants,'  and  he  gloried  in  accepting 
tradition  as  a  main  instrument  of  religious 
teaching.  He  taught  me  to  look  with  admira- 
tion toward  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  in  the 
same  degree  to  dislike  the  Reformation.  He 
fixed  deep  in  me  the  idea  of  devotion  to  the 
blessed  Virgin,  and  he  led  me  gradually  to  be- 
lieve in  the  Real  Presence.  He  was  powerfully 
drawn  to  the  Medieval  Church,  but  not  to  the 
Primitive."  Precisely,  and  for  thirteen  hun- 
dred years,  almost  the  entire  world  of  religious 
thought  was  "powerfully  drawn  to  the  Medie- 
val Church"  and  dominated  by  it,  but  just  the 
same,  the  Primitive  was  and  is,  the  Xew  Testa- 
ment Church  before  winch  in  the  twentieth 
century,  the  Medieval  institution  with  all  its 
pretentions  and  attractions,  is  doomed  to  pass 
away. 

Indeed,  since  the  Reformation  it  has  lived 
127 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

on  "borrowed  time,"  with  its  glory  departed, 
and  "Ichabod"  distinctly  traceable  on  its  fading 
and  diminishing  banners.  It  is  still  boastful 
but  moribund.  Moreover,  very  much  the  same 
may  be  said  of  its  daughter,  the  Church  of 
England,  which  even  now,  in  its  ecclesiastical 
aspects,  sits  precariously,  as  an  ambitious,  sub- 
servient, melancholy  deck-house  on  the  splendid 
hull  of  English  civilization,  under  distinct  noti- 
fication of  eviction  for  trespass. 

The  ante-Reformation  Pride  of  Ecclesiastical 
Power  has  been  feebly  projected  over  to  the 
present  day,  but  New  Testament  Christianity, 
the  "Primitive"  Church,  will  soon,  in  the  twen- 
tieth century,  repeat  its  conquests  of  the  first 
century,  and  Pride  of  Ecclesiastical  Power  in  a 
modern  churchman  will  go  the  way  of  Pride  of 
Ecclesiastical  Power  in  the  ancient  Church  of 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  To  this  the  present- 
day  Zeitgeist  of  religious  liberty,  nol)ler  politi- 
cal forces,  new  intellectuality  in  all  ranks  and 
regions,  the  Bible  itself  and  the  ominous  prc- 
128 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


sagings  of  the  Christ-kingdom,  are  already 
powerfully  contrihuting.  Says  Mr.  Beecher : 
"I  give  you  fair  notice  of  my  intention.  I  will 
attempt,  as  I  have  attempted,  to  put  down  ec- 
clesiasticism,  here  and  everywhere,  as  not  in 
accordance  with  the  highest  plane  of  Christian 
experience,  nor  witli  the  hest  interpretation  of 
the  New  Testament,  nor  with  the  dictates  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  poured  out  upon  the  hearts 
of  God's  people  everywhere." 

Since  the  Reformation,  however,  the  para- 
mount affliction  of  the  Church,  the  suhtle 
tyranny  at  the  front,  hy  whicli  organized  Chris- 
tianity has  been  specially  repressed  and  post- 
poned, has  been  Denominational  Pride  of  Creed 
Opinion.  Immediately  after  the  Reformation, 
instead  of  uniting  in  the  name  of  Christ  for  a 
resurrection  and  rehabilitation  of  the  Primitive 
Church,  instead  of  a  Protestant  organizati()n 
on  a  New  Te.stament  basis  for  the  ends  of 
Christianity  by  New  Testament  means,  the 
Protestant  leaders,  in  their  pride  of  intellect, 
129 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

began  to  fight  over  dogmas  of  doctrine  and 
polity,  and  have  been  intrenched  and  assiduous 
in  belHgerent  or  rival  camps  ever  since. 

For  four  centuries,  losing  sight  of  the  essen- 
tials of  the  New  Testament,  as  furnishing  the 
scriptural  and  scientific  basis  of  organization, 
and  with  vigorous  thinking  and  elaboration 
over  the  non-essentials,  the  denominationalists 
have  enshrined  these  at  the  various  centers, 
and  essaying  the  transcendent  campaigns  of 
Christianity  with  a  hopelessly  divided  army, 
have  calamitously  failed  of  conquest  and  char- 
acter, both  at  once. 

And  with  what  controlling  animus?  Pride — 
the  self-complacent  notion,  that  having  arrived 
at  a  religious  conclusion,  each  man  was  privi- 
leged to  establish  and  worship  it  wherever  he 
pleased,  and  as  devoutly  as  he  pleased,  and 
as  exclusively  as  he  pleased,  which  is  indeed  the 
essence  of  denominationalism. 

From  first  to  last  it  has  been  indisputably 
manifest,  that  the  four  New  Testament  ends 
130 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

of  Cliristianity  could  l;e  surely,  triumphantly, 
universally  and  always  attained  by  the  four 
New  Testament  means,  yet  Christian  men  of 
every  variety,  in  all  the  years  have  insisted  upon 
repudiating-  the  divine  scheme  at  the  instance 
of  their  hereditary  pride  of  opinion,  in  conse- 
quence of  which,  instead  of  a  united  Church  of 
Christ  for  Christ,  there  are  in  this  country  more 
than  one  hundrcfl  and  forty  Protestant  denomi- 
nations, witli  thirty  of  them  active  and  self- 
asserting,  as  in  evidence  in  Federation  or 
Students'  or  Missionary  Conventions,  none  of 
them  pretending-  to  special  intelligence,  holiness 
or  efficiency — only  "W'e  are  entitled  to  our 
opinions  like  the  rest — and  enjoy  promulgat- 
ing them,"  they  say. 

Take  the  Presbyterians :  You  ask  one  of 
them  the  grounds  for  a  separate  denominational 
organization.  Will  he  ])oint  out  to  you  any 
monopoly  of  or  indeed  any  practical  advan- 
tage for  any  of  the  ends  or  means  of  Chris- 
tianity ?  Whether  you  quote  the  three  root 
'31 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

peculiarities  of  Presbyterianism  :  Parity  in  the 
ministry,  ruling  elders  and  church  courts — or 
more  widely,  its  doctrines  and  polity,  can  he 
point  to  any  facts  or  necessary  principles  which 
attest  its  superiority,  not  to  say  monopoly,  in 
any  good  thing? 

Take  the  Church  of  to-day.  Can  your  Pres- 
byterian conduct  you  to  any  scene  of  experience 
or  work  and  exhibiting  the  rare  attainments  or 
triumphant  operations  of  some  Five  Point  Cal- 
vinist,  show  that  if  James  M.  Buckley  or  some 
other  well-equipi)ed  ^lethodist  had  been  there, 
the  results  would  have  been  wholly  different  ? 

Does  ever,  anywhere  a  Presbyterian,  stand- 
ing up  in  any  community,  proclaim :  Behold, 
because  of  our  IVesbyterianism  we  surpass  all 
the  other  Christians  here  in  honor  of  Christ, 
holiness  of  character,  power  in  the  world  and 
acceptance  with  God  ? 

"But  our  forefathers  through  the  years  have 
attested  their  devotion  to  these  standards,  for 
which  they  were  ready  to  forego  all  things, 
132 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

even  life,  and  these  they  have  bequeathed  to 
us  as  a  sacred  lieritage."  Now  these  Pres- 
byterian forefathers  liave  been  the  tlienie 
of  hunch-eds  of  special  occasion  sermons,  and 
arc  worthy  of  a  little  special  attention.  In  the 
first  place,  any  number  of  worthy,  level-headed 
men  will  die  for  any  doctrine  or  system  which 
they  have  espoused,  when  they  are  attacked 
and  "get  mad."  So  a  "Wee-Free,"'  or  any  of 
the  "Split  P's"  of  Scotland,  or  a  Southern  Pres- 
byterian, would  be  beggared,  or  die.  sooner 
than  recant.  This,  however,  while  it  attests 
the  pt'lemic  spunk  of  the  party,  proves  noth- 
intf  whatever  as  to  the  validitv  or  value  of  his 
peculiar  views. 

This  writer  has  a  Scotch  friend  who  used 
to  swear  at  Revision  of  the  Standards,  and 
we  all  know  that  a  man.  from  earl}-  education, 
may  adhere  with  enthusiastic  steadfastness  to 
the  si)ecialties  of  Presbyterianism.  and  yet  neg- 
lect the  central  Christianity  and  be  a  godless, 
u.scless,  even  pernicious  man. 

133 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

In  fact,  in  the  crises  of  their  h\  ing  or  dying, 
the  great  men  of  denominatifjnal  Church  his- 
tory, who  have  ])een  lieroic  and  true,  and  "wit- 
nessed a  good  confession"  Ijefore  God  and  men, 
have  uniformly  attributed  their  triumphs  and 
their  hopes  to  the  cuds  and  means  of  New  Tes- 
tament Christianity,  with  evidently  their  de- 
nominational peculiarities — a  passing  accident 
of  their  experiences. 

All  the  Presbyterian  orators  know  perfectly 
well  that  if  in  any  testing,  trying  experiences 
of  any  great  Presbyterian's  religious  life,  a 
John  Wesley  or  some  other  Methodist,  true  to 
and  full  of  God  in  His  Word,  and  Son  and 
Spirit,  had  been  substituted  for  him,  the  record 
would  ha\  e  been  just  as  conspicuously  glorious. 

Under  summons  to  "Come  up  Higher," 
through  an  incurable  disease.  Joseph  Addison 
Alexander,  of  the  Princeton  Theological  Sem- 
inary, the  most  accomplished  scholar  the 
American  Church  has  ever  produced,  w'alking 
up  and  down  his  study,  was  overheard  to  recite 
134 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

w  itli  all  tlie  fervor  and  appropriation  of  a  little 
child : 

"Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea, 
Rut  that  thy  Ijlood  was  shed  for  me, 
And  that  thou  hid'st  me  come  to  thee, 
O  Lanih  of  God,  I  come ! 

"Just  as  T  am.  and  waiting  not 
To  rid  my  soul  of  one  dark  blot, 
To  thee  whose  hlood  can  cleanse  each  spot, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come ! 

"Just  as  I  am,  though  tossed  about 
With  many  a  confbct,  many  a  doubt, 
Fightings  within,  and  fears  without, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come! 

"Just  as  I  am — poor,  wretched,  1:ilind ; 
Sight,  riches,  healing  of  the  mind, 
Yea,  all  I  need,  in  thee  to  find, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come! 

135 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


"Jtist  as  I  am — thou  wilt  receive, 
W  ilt  welcome,  pardon,  cleanse,  relieve ; 
Because  thy  promise  I  helieve, 
O  Lamh  of  God,  I  come ! 

"Just  as  I  am — thy  love  unknown 
Hath  broken  every  barrier  down ; 
Now,  to  be  thine,  yea,  thine  alone, 
O  Lamb  of  God,  I  come!" 

And  in  this  he  presented  a  representative  pic- 
ture of  all  God's  great  Presbyterians  in  all 
the  centuries.  They  were  attached  to  their 
Presbyterianism,  but  in  any  crises  of  duty  or 
experience,  they  appealed  to  Christianity,  just 
like  an  intelligent  and  spiritually-minded 
Methodist  or  Independent,  and  were  never  dis- 
appointed. 

Several  years  ago  in  opposing  Revision, 
Prof.  William  Brenton  Greene,  of  Princeton, 
penned  this  characteristic  and  plausible  state- 
ment :    The  Confession  "is  the  banner  under 
136 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

which  the  Presbyterian  Church  has  conquered. 
She  has  become  the  power  that  she  is  in  for- 
eigii  and  home  evangelization,  and  as  the  cham- 
pion of  both  reh'gious  and  civil  liberty,  through 
devotion  to  its  principles." 

What  section  of  its  principles?  In  fact,  the 
Christian  section,  irrespective  of  the  sectarian 
section,  and  in  some  respects,  in  spite  of  this, 
indeed. 

All  which  calls  up  a  scene  of  athletes  on  a 
race  track.  Instead  of  ''laying  aside  every 
weight"  and  giving  their  vital  forces  the  fullest 
opportunity  in  the  highest  liberty,  these  in  mad- 
ness of  antiquarian  subserviency  load  them- 
selves up  with  "grandfathers"  overcoats  and 
boots,  and  after  a  fashion,  to  be  sure,  run ; 
then,  afterwards,  congratulate  themselves: 
"We  had  power  and  were  champions  because  of 
our  devotion  to  our  forefathers'  outfit." 

\\'hen  Ernest  Renan — right  for  once  in  his 
life — declared  that  Calvin  succeeded  in  his 
work  as  a  reformer  "because  he  was  the  most 
'37 


ORGANIZED  "CHRISTIANITY 


Christian  man  of  his  age,"  he  uttered  a  generic 
truth,  pertinent  to  all  Calvinists. 

It  is  highly  edifying  to  hear  Dr.  William 
H.  Roberts,  the  erstwhile  chief  apostle  of  Pres- 
byterianism  in  this  country,  at  a  "Brotherhood" 
Convention  last  year,  in  discussing  the  topic, 
"The  Presbyterian  Church — what  it  stands 
for,"  present  in  answer  the  following  points : 

"i.  Loyalty  to  the  priceless  American  heri- 
tage of  individual  liberty  and  popular  gov- 
ernment. 

"2.  The  right  and  duty  of  every  Christian 
to  be  a  worker  for  Christ. 

"3.  The  spiritual  character  and  purposes  of 
the  Church,  as  Christ's  agent  for  the  salvation 
of  men  and  the  regeneration  of  the  world. 

"4.  The  unity  of  the  Church,  emphasizing 
the  need  that  Christians  should  strive  not 
against  one  another,  but  with  one  another,  for 
the  doing  of  Christ's  work  in  the  world. 

"5.  That  a  living  Church  must  evidence  its 
life  by  its  evangelistic  and  missionarv  work. 
138 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


"6.  That  the  supreme  duty  of  the  Church  is 
loyahy  to  Jesus  Christ  and  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures as  the  law  of  Christ  for  both  faith  and 
conduct."  To  which  he  added  :  "May  all  these 
things  abound  increasingly  in  our  midst  as  a 
Church ;  may  they  permeate  with  increasing 
power  all  Christian  Churches!"  Even  so,  but 
just  this  is  New  Testament  Christianity,  and 
is  most  appositely  prophetic.  Just  tliis  will 
indeed  characterize  the  Presbyterian  Church 
when  it  has  unloaded  its  water-logged  hull,  and 
casting  o\erboard  its  superfluous  wares,  has 
gracefully  floated  up  to  the  water-line  of  Evan- 
gelical Christianity.  So  will  it  indeed  realize 
"what  it  stands  for." 

Then  here  are  for  the  Church,  rejoicing  in 
its  new  and  true  ideals,  additional  considera- 
tions, indicating  its  coming  uplift  for  duty  and 
opportunity,  and  corrective  of  its  Pride. 

It  is  perfectly  fair  to  gauge  any  Church  by 
its  relation  to  the  "Great  Commission."  Do 
Presbyterian  Missionaries  or  visiting  Secre- 
139 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


taries  return  to  this  land  to  report  anywhere  the 
splendid  conquests  of  purely  Presbyterian  ideas 
of  truth  or  polity  or  plan,  as  set  over  against 
the  inferiority  and  failure  of  Methodist,  Bap- 
tist or  Congregational  missions?  Does  any 
one  recall  a  single  instance  of  this? 

Then  redemption  work  at  home — what  is 
this  report  of  what  Dr.  J.  Wilbur  Chapman, 
the  General  Assembly's  special  Evangelist,  is 
saying  in  the  Federation  Convention? 

'Tie  spoke  thrillingly  on  Interdenominational 
Evangelization,  which  he  believes  to  be  the  only 
potent  method  of  evangelization.  It  is  vastly 
easier  to  make  Christians  than  Baptists,  Metho- 
dists or  Presbyterians.  The  one  is  the  gift  of 
God;  the  other  mainly  a  matter  of  birth  or 
argimient.  Denominational  evangelization 
cannot  arrest  the  attention  of  a  city;  no  single 
denomination  can  control  the  force  of  the 
church  and  its  whole  force  is  needed  to  shake 
a  city.  Every  denominational  revival  awakens 
jjrcjudice  somewhere;  work  for  Jesus  and  not 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

for  the  denomination,  and  prejudice  is  gone 
and  the  city  moved.  Four  years  of  evangehstic 
work  along  these  hnes  liave  made  Dr.  Chap- 
man look  forward  with  confidence  to  a  great 
national  revival." 

.  For  three  years  he  said  he  had  conducted  his 
campaigns,  trying  to  make  men  Presbyterians 
and  failed,  later  he  aimed  to  make  them  Chris- 
tians and  succeeeded — which,  being  in  the  in- 
terests of  accuracy,  corrected,  means  that  for 
three  years  he  tried  to  make  sinners  Christians 
by  exclusively  Presbyterian  agencies  and  failed, 
while  he  succeeded  as  a  Xcw  Testament  Chris- 
tian. 

For  years  the  call  to  Presbyterians  has  been, 
with  single  aim  and  heroic  energy  and  apostolic 
spirituality  and  unity,  to  preach  and  propagate 
Xew  Testament  Christianity,  and  leave  its  Cal- 
vinism and  other  denominational  specialties  to 
take  care  of  themselves  amid  tlie  wholesome 
agitations,  siftings  and  adjustments  of  genu- 
141 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


ine  spiritual  and  scriptural  operations.  To  do 
this  ought  not  to  require  much  faith. 

Where  is  the  Ijlessed  magician,  who  can 
take  Dr.  Charles  Hodge's  Lectures,  and  putting 
them  on  a  potter's  wheel,  remold  them  until 
the  doctrines  of  Christian  Ends  and  Means 
ha\  e  iDeen  manipulated  up  to  the  glowing  apex 
and  the  Preshyterian  specialties  duly  gyrated 
down  to  the  hase — not  necessarily  entirely  off 
the  disk,  however? 

Dr.  Archil)ald  Alexander  Hodge,  after  his 
father.  Professor  of  Theology  at  the  Princeton 
'i  lieological  Seminary,  may  l)e  ai^propriately 
quoted  at  this  point :  "Each  of  these  parties 
hold  all  essential  truth,  and  therefore  they  hold 
actually  very  much  the  same  truth.  The  Armin- 
ians  ihink  and  speak  very  much  like  CaK  inists 
when  they  come  to  talk  willi  (lod  in  cither  the 
confession  of  si'.i,  or  the  supplication  for  grace. 
They  hoth  alike  in  th.nt  attitude  recognize  the 
sovereignty  of  God  and  the  guilt  and  helpless- 
ness of  men.  Indeed,  how  could  it  be  other- 
142 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


wise?  What  room  is  there  for  anything  other 
than  essential  Calvinism,  on  one's  knees?  On 
the  other  liand,  the  Calvinist  thinks  and  speaks 
hke  the  better  class  of  Arniinians.  when  he 
addresses  the  consciences  of  men  and  pleads 
with  iheni  as  free,  responsilile  agents  to  repent 
anil  hclievc  in  Cln-ist.  The  difference  between 
the  best  of  either  class  is  one  of  emphasis  rather 
than  of  essential  principle.  Each  is  the  coni- 
pleincnt  of  the  other.  Each  is  necessary  to  re- 
strain, correct,  and  supply  the  one-sided  strain 
of  the  other.  They  together  give  origin  to 
the  blended  strain  from  which  issues  the  per- 
fect music  which  utters  tlie  ])erfect  truth." 

'riicn  again  :  "This  matter  of  free-will  un- 
derlies everything.  If  you  bring  it  to  (|ucsl!on, 
it  is  infinitely  more  than  Calxinism.  ...  I 
believe  in  t  alviiUNm  and  I  sa\-  that  free-will 
stands  before  CaKinisni.  lA erything  is  gone 
if  free-will  is  gone.  The  moral  system  is  gone 
if  free-will  is  gone.  You  cannot  escape  ex- 
cept by  Materialisn\  on  the  one  hand  or  ]\'\n- 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


theism  on  the  other.  Hold  hard,  therefore,  to 
the  doctrine  of  free-will." 

In  all  this,  feasibility  and  solution  are  sug- 
gested by  this  simple  comment  of  Prof.  Will- 
iam C.  Wilkinson's :  "In  characterization  of 
Mr.  Punshon's  published  sermons  and  address- 
es, it  deserves  to  be  said,  first  and  most  em- 
phatically, that  they  are  throughout  'all  com- 
pact' of  gospel  pure  and  undefiled.  The  note 
of  absolute  loyalty  to  Scripture  is  everywhere 
clearly  heard,  and  it  is  as  clearly  everywhere 
the  dominant  note.  To  the  lover  of  evangelical 
trutli  needing  no  flavor  of  'advanced'  thought 
to  commend  it  to  his  relish,  this  character  in 
Mr.  Punshon's  utterances  is  an  immense -sat- 
isfaction. 'Sir.  Spurgeon  himself  was  not  more 
straightly  orthodox  than  was  ^Ir.  Punshon. 
Barring  the  difYerence  between  them  of  Cal- 
vinistic  and  Arminian.  the  two  men  preached 
one  and  the  same  gospel,  and  together  bore 
agreeing  testimony  to  the  inspiration  ami  au- 
thority of  the  Bible  as  being  throughout,  from 
•  144 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Genesis  to  Revelation,  the  unmixed  Word  of 
God." 

Says  an  editorial  in  the  Southern  Presby- 
terian of  South  Carolina  :  would  not  go 
the  length  of  saying  that  all  theological  differ- 
ences are  unimpurlant.  I'.ut  the  im])ortant  ones 
are  not  those  which  divide  Anninians  and  Cal- 
vinists,  Init  those  which  divide  unitarians  and 
trinitarians  and  those  which  divide  the  papacy 
from  Protestantism.  The  Arminio-Calvinistic 
difference  cannot  affect  any  soul  injuriously, 
except  as  it  is  made  to  do  duty  as  a  cause  for 
division.  The  Arminians  sing  and  pray  Cal- 
vinism. The  Calvinists  frequently  preach  and 
practice  Arminianism.  Take  the  lahels  off 
them  and  their  own  mothers  would  not  he  ahle 
to  tell  them  apart,  very  often." 

And  hear  Dr.  K.  V.  Coyle :  "Splits  and 
schisms  and  separations  are  a  reproach  which 
cannot  he  too  s(^on  taken  away  from  our  Pres- 
hytcrian  churches.  No  amount  of  line,  theo- 
logical thinking  can  make  it  right  for  us  to  be 
145 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


apart.  Calvinism  is  no  more  s^-nonvnious  with 
Christianity  than  John  Calvin  is  synonymous 
with  Jesus  Christ.  The  Confession  is  not  the 
Bible:  the  Genevan  is  not  the  Galilean." 

So  when  the  question  arises :  Why  is  not 
Presbyterianism  duly  fused  into  Organized 
Christianity  ?  the  answer  is  :  Denominational 
Pride  of  inherited  opinion. 

But  study  now  this  Baptist 

Of  course  at  the  outset  he  is  embarrassed  by 
his  opponents.  These,  like  himself,  in  an  Old 
Testament  bondage,  drag  the  unsettled  par- 
ticulars of  rites  and  ceremonies  up  to  the  height 
and  moment  of  the  Xew  Testament  Spirit  and 
Truth  and  Life. 

The  practice  of  infant  baptism  may  be  said 
to  be  Scripturally  appropriate,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  at  all  that  when  parents  "full  of  faith  and 
the  Holy  Ghost"  and  the  love  of  Christ  and 
prayers,  dedicate  their  children  to  God  with  the 
outward  sign  of  their  Christianity,  they  are 
accepted  of  Heaven — sign  and  dedication  both. 
146 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

But  the  usual  '"arguments"  for  infant  baptism 
would  carry  almost  any  rite  or  regulation  of 
the  Old  Testament  over  into  the  NeAV,  unless 
it  was  definitely  prohibited — tithing  or  poverty 
of  the  priests  for  example.  So  the  Baptist  may 
be  a  little  excused  for  his  sectarianism,  until 
there  is  a  grand  striking  of  outlying  sectarian 
tents  for  a  concerted  movement  up  to  and  with- 
in the  central  tabernacle  of  Christianity.  Still 
there  is  no  valid  excuse  for  his  separate  or- 
ganization on  the  general  premises  of  Chris- 
tianity after  all.  According  to  his  own  evan- 
gelical theories,  these  general  premises  are  tre- 
mendously crowded  and  all  parties  infinitely 
straitened  by  the  New  Testament  factors  of 
Ends  and  Means,  and  there  is  no  time  or  room 
for  emphasis  upon  any  subordinate  theories  or 
beliefs,  even  if  sincere  men  do  entertain,  and 
imagine  that  the}-  can  logically  defend  them. 
To  (|uote  the  eminent  liaptist.  Prof.  J.  B. 
Th(jmas :  'A\'e  jicrvcrt  the  truth  when  we  put 
l^arty  and  sect  above  Christ.  The  most  pug- 
147 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


nacioLis  Baptist  I  ever  saw  was  an  unconverted 
man.  He  knew  the  Scriptures.  He  could 
argue  long  and  well  for  immersion.  He  would 
grow^  indignant  in  his  championship  of  our 
tenets,  yet  admitted  that  he  was  not  a  Chris- 
tian. He  never  professed  to  be.  I  am  sorry 
to  say  that  I  once  heard  a  doctor  of  divinity 
exclaim,  T  hope  that  I  am  a  Christian,  hut  I 
knoxv  that  I  am  a  Baptist !'  These  hoth  come 
under  the  indignant  rebuke  of  Paul,  'God  for- 
bid that  I  should  glory,  save  in  the  cross  of 
Jesus  Christ!'  'Circumcisi(Mi  availeth  nothing, 
uncircumcision  nothing,  but  a  new  creature.' 
A  spirit  of  partisan  zeal  mars  and  warps  the 
spirit  of  Christianity.  To  say,  T  am  of  Paul 
and  I  of  Cephas,'  is  practically  to  affirm  that 
Christ  is  divided." 

Very  soon  indeed  the  Baptist,  in  behalf  of 
Christianity,  has  to  abandon  formulating  and 
emphasizing  ritualistic  conceptions,  even  if  in 
a  sense  Scriptural.  He  stands  for  the  mode 
of  Baptism,  but  can  find  no  time  or  place  for 
148 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


the  Scriptural  physical  particulars,  the  mode, 
of  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  has  no  time  or 
place  for  rules  for  fasting,  no  time  or  place  for 
our  Saviour's  washing  of  feet  and  his  sacred 
instruction,  "If  I  then,  your  Lord  and  Master, 
have  washed  your  feet,  ye  also  ought  to  wash 
one  another's  feet.  For  I  have  given  you  an 
example,  that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done  to 
you." 

The  charge  against  the  Baptist  is  not  neces- 
sarily, that  his  denominational  views  are  er- 
roneous, hut  that  he  comes  upon  the  hallowed 
territories  of  God's  grandest  family  and  re- 
demption operations,  and  man's  desperate 
emergency,  distracting  and  weakening,  unnec- 
essarily, and  with  strange  partiality  and  in- 
consistency. 

Then,  too,  he  has  had  experience.  At  North- 
field  or  a  Young  ]\Ien"s  Christian  Association 
gathering,  gladly,  devoutly,  passionately,  ef- 
fectively, he  has  studied  the  Bihle,  developed 
in  Christian  character,  hlessed  other  Christians, 
149 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

sought  the  lost,  enjoyed  God  and  Hea\en  with 
others — intelHgent.  spiritual,  heavenly  minded, 
heavenly  hearted  Christians,  as  Christians. 
Now  he  returns  to  his  denominational  Church 
and  communes  and  cooperates  with  whom,  and 
on  what  basis  ?  With  Baptists  as  Baptists — 
with  those  who  may  or  may  not  have  any  Chris- 
tian zeal  for  God  or  man  or  any  fellowship 
love  for  him,  Ijeyoncl  what  gives  the  presump- 
tion that  they  may  be  Christians  and  keeps  them 
above  immortality. 

As  a  practical  statement,  in  behalf  of  the 
Ends  and  Means  of  Christianity,  God  at  first 
by  His  \\'ord,  and  ])y  His  providence,  excuses 
His  children  from  rites  and  ceremonies,  and 
then  afterwards  in  the  unity,  and  fellowship 
and  enterprises  of  Christ  the  Head,  employs 
them  after  all.  to  liless  the  one  body  in  Christ. 
According  to  His  Word  and  [jrovidence.  God 
has  no  use  for  ritualistic  observances  in  His 
family,  in  any  dividing  preeminence. 

Most  significant  and  substantially  sound  and 
150 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Scriptural  are  the  words  of  Dr.  Norman  Fox : 
"The  only  practicable  scheme  for  such  a  union 
would  be  one  which  waived  entirely  the  ques- 
tion, what  constitutes  New  Testament  baptism, 
which  eliminated  completely  the  discussion 
whether  the  use  of  affusion  and  the  baptism  of 
infants  is  according  to  Scripture.  Such  a  plan 
would  be  found  in  a  Church  which  admitted 
to  the  Church  suj)per  and  to  full  membership 
any  believer,  baptised  or  iinhaptiscd.  If  the 
Church  welcomed  to  its  ranks  one.  who.  being 
of  Quaker  training,  did  not  believe  in  water 
baptism  and  so  had  been  neitlicr  immersed  nor 
sprinkled,  the  Baptist  member  could  vote  to 
accept  the  person  who  had  received  only  infant 
bai)tism,  without  thereby  impliedly  acknowl- 
edging that  such  baptism  is  valid.  Baptism 
would  thus  be  made  no  longer  a  Church  or- 
dinance, Init  a  ((ucstion  of  pri\atc  duty, 
like  the  giving  of  a  tenth  of  one's  income 
in  benevolence.  'Phc  member  of  such  a 
Church  could  |)ri\alc]y  be  immersed  or  sprin- 
151 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


kled  or  have  his  children  baptised  by  any- 
one \vliom  he  could  find  to  administer  the  cere- 
mony, -while  the  pastor  of  the  church  could  de- 
cline to  perform  any  rite  in  -which  he  did  not 
believe.  In  such  a  Church  all  controversy  re- 
garding baptism  would  be  eliminated  as  thor- 
oughly as  from  a  Young  Men's  Christian  As- 
sociation. 

If  Congregationalists  •and  Baptists  could 
all  be  brought  to  see  that  water  baptism  is  not 
made  by  the  New  Testament  an  essential  to 
Church  membership,  that  the  Church  of  Christ 
should  be  open  to  all  the  disciples  of  Christ  ir- 
respective of  baptism,  then,  though  each  re- 
tained its  own  beliefs  as  to  what  constitutes 
true  baptism,  these  two  great  bodies  could  be- 
come one.  There  are  Baptist  Churches  in  Eng- 
land which  are  organized  on  this  principle,  and 
there  are  Baptists  in  America  who  believe  it  to 
be  the  principle  of  the  New  Testament." 

But  what  of  the  Episcopalians  as  obstructing 
the  "Way  of  the  Lord"  in  Denominational 
15-2 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Pride  of  opinion?  \\'e  ha\e  already  referred 
to  their  English  division  in  its  Pride  of  ec- 
clesiastical power,  and  in  so  far  as  it  is  allied 
with  Government,  and  as  John  Stuart  "SUM  ex- 
presses it,  is  "a  branch  of  the  civil  service" ; 
but  what  of  their  denominational  pride  of  creed 
opinion  ? 

Erom  the  viewpoint  of  New  Testament 
Christianity  it  must  in  all  honesty  be  said  in 
answer,  that  the  Episcoi)al  Church  sins  pre- 
eminently in  this  respect  and  with  the  least 
excuse — Scriptural,  intellectual,  historical  or 
experimental.  In  the  first  place  it  behooves  its 
advocates  to  come  upon  the  common  domain 
under  due  restraints  of  modest  self-suspicion 
because  as  a  dcnfimination  it  is  so  very  small. 
With  all  the  adx  antages  of  an  early  start,  social 
and  political  prestige,  easy  terms  of  admission, 
it  is  hut  one-ninth  as  large  as  the  Methodist 
("hurch.  one-eighth  ;is  large  as  the  liaptist.  while 
the  Prc'->l)vterian  Lutheran  each  outnumber 
it  two  and  a  halt  times. 

153 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Then  in  comparison  it  is  weak  intellectually. 
President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  was  suavely  polite 
to  the  Episcopal  divines  when  he  said  to  them  : 
"I  do  not  admire  ydur  intellectual  frugality," 
but,  "rebuking  and  exhorting"  in  this  respect, 
"its  own  Bishops  and  other  Clergy"  protest 
in  terms  cjuite  too  derisi\e  and  scornful  for 
these  pages ;  whicli  leads  to  the  remark  that 
contemptuous  scornfulness  would  seem  to  be 
curiously  germane  to  this  Church,  and  whether 
it  appears  as  between  Ritualists  and  Evangel- 
icals within  the  fold,  or  as  addressed  to  non- 
EpiscopaHans  and  especially  Reformed  Episco- 
palians without,  or  from  without  from  Roman 
Catholic  sources,  is  extremely  suggestive  of 
ecclesiastical  and  s])iritual  weakness. 

Moreover,  beyond  all  other  Protestant  Chris- 
tians, without  exception,  these  "feeble  folk"  ex- 
ploit their  denominational  pride  in  refusing  the 
recognitions  and  cooperations  of  Christian 
unity.  Eor  the  sake  of  the  Christ,  and  truth 
and  spiritual  power  of  New  Testament  Chris- 
154 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

tianity,  which  they  share  in  common,  minis- 
ters and  laymen  of  other  denominations  gladly 
unite  with  others  in  services  and  Christian 
work,  just  as  far  as  the  root  interests  of  th.eir 
respective  Churche:,  as  they  conceive  them,  will 
permit.  Not  so  these.  Why  ?  Because  of 
their  pure  unreasoning;'  Pride  nf  denominational 
claims  and  dreams,  founded  upon  the  notion 
that  they  monopolize  the  authority  and  grace 
of  the  Head  of  the  Church  in  the  "apostolic  and 
historic  succession." 

In  1903  the  Clnirchman  made  public  pro- 
fession of  its  faith  thus:  "It  is  a  serious  re- 
flection on  Christendom  at  the  present  moment 
to  contrast  the  interests  and  hopes  founded  on 
the  institution  of  the  Hague  Peace  Tribunal 
with  the  half-hearted  discussion  of  Christian 
reunion.  The  impulse  which  has  brought  na- 
tions to  ac(|uiesce  in  the  formation  of  a  perma- 
nent Court  of  .Arbitration  is  thoroughly  Chris- 
tian— while  the  ac(|uiescence  in  sectarian  divi- 
sion and  discord  is  thoroughly  unchristian. 
155 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITV 


The  Church  is  bcnnd  to  follow  here  the  leader- 
ship of  the  state.  To  refuse  to  do  so  is  to 
cease  to  inlluence  whatever  stands  for  the  best 
and  highest  elements  in  modern  life. 

Reunion  is  vital  to  the  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity. \\'hen  the  Christian  Church  realizes 
that  this  is  the  supreme  and  imminent  question 
to  discuss  and  to  settle,  she  will  have  gone  far 
to  regain  the  paramount  influence  which  by 
nature  belongs  to  her.  Any  kind  of  activity 
treated  from  the  sectarian  point  of  view,  is 
more  disheartening  than  inspiring.  To  hold 
conferences  and  meetings  for  great  Christian 
purposes  on  sectarian  lines,  is  as  ineffective  as 
it  would  be  to  allow  political  partisanship  to 
control  the  organs  of  national  life." 

And  in  1905  recanted  thus :  "A  correspond- 
ent asks  in  another  column  :  \\'ould  you  'give 
up  the  principle  and  the  fact  of  the  Apostolic 
Succession  if  thereby  the  unity  of  Christians 
.  .  .  could  l)e  secured  to-morrow?'  The  ques- 
tion is  representative,  and,  whether  in  the  form 
156 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

in  which  Air.  Bailey  asks  it  or  in  some  other, 
causes  wide  and  deep  anxiety  whenever  unity 
is  discussed.  In  its  broadest  aspect,  it  is  equiv- 
alent to  asking,  'Shall  the  ministry  which  has 
been  committed  to  the  Church  as  a  trust  be 
given  up?'  The  answer  is  inevitable  that  such 
a  betrayal  of  trust  is  impossible.  One  cannot 
give  up  that  which  is  not  his.  The  Church 
cannot  give  up  that  which  was  committed  to 
her  in  trust.  The  moral  obligations  of  so  sim- 
ple a  proposition  cannot  be  escaped." 

Such  a  disappointment!  The  Clitircliiiiaii  in 
1903  crying  after  (however  unconsciously), 
and  starting  straight  for  Organized  Chris- 
tianity, and  then  in  1905  shunted  off  and  de- 
railed at  the  station  of  its  own  denominational 
and  gratuitous  pride ! 

"The  princi])le  and  fact  of  the  Apostolic 
Succession"  l^efore  and  above  the  "Unity  of 
Christians,"  as  Christians!  The  ministry  "as 
a  trust"  lowered  to  and  identified  with  the 
157 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


"principle  and  fact  of  the  Apostolic  Succes- 
sion" ! 

Do  the  thinkers  of  the  Episcopal  Church  re- 
alize in  what  a  low  estate  this  locates  the  min- 
istry? The  good  men  are  sorely  hestead  al- 
ready, with  feeble  fraternity,  yes  and  fierce 
conflicts  among  themselves,  \\  ith  exclusive  and 
arrogant  claims  advanced  for  them,  to  which,  in 
scholarship  or  piety,  or  influence,  they  cannot 
at  all  respond,  and  here  they  are  linked  and 
made  subservient  to,  the  baseless  dreams  of 
"Apostolic  Succession." 

But  is  it  a  baseless  dream?  That  is  what  the 
scholarship  of  the  world  says,  and  what  more 
and  more  the  highest  scholarship  of  Episco- 
pacy itself  says.  The  most  eminent  scholars, 
who  are  of  the  "succession"  and  having  all  the 
e.xtra  acumen  it  might  be  supposed  to  confer, 
agree  with  Prof.  John  DeWitt:  "I'or  if  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  the  'Historic  lq)iscopate,'  a 
succession  of  Bisho])s  from  the  Apostles  on- 
ward, those  who  belong  to  the  succession  ought 
i58 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

to  know  who  are  in  the  succession.  What  is 
the  judgment  of  the  Bishops,  who  are  by  com- 
mon consent  in  this  hne  (if  there  be  such  a 
hne)  as  to  the  Historic  Episcopate  of  the 
Anghcan  bodies?  The  Episcopal  Church  ac- 
knowledges the  ApostoHc  character  of  the 
Roman  Cathohc  Episcopate  and  Apostohc  char- 
acter of  the  Greek  Episcopate.  But  has  the 
compliment  ever  been  returned  ?  Has  the  Greek 
Church  acknowledged  the  claim  of  a  single 
English  Bishop  to  a  place  in  the  Apostolic 
succession  ?  It  has  not  only  never  acknowl- 
edged it,  but  has  refused  to  do  so,  though  Eng- 
lish Bishops  have  sought  such  recognition. 
And  as  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Church — is  it 
not  notorious  that  whenever  a  'vert'  has  passed 
over  from  Anglicanism  into  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church,  whether  'Bishop,'  'Priest'  or 
'Deacon,'  he  has  been  received  as  a  simple  lay- 
man? This  is  'the  colorless  light  of  history.' 
Suppose  that  those  whom  the  Anglicans  recog- 
nize as  Bishops  in  the  line  of  the  Apostolic  suc- 
159 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


cession  were  to  meet  together.  The  Roman 
Cathohc  Bishops,  inckuhng-  mitred  Abbots,  etc., 
would  numl:)er  about  twelve  hundred;  the 
Greek  Bishops  about  three  hundred,  and  the 
Anglican  Bishops  about  two  hundred  and  sev- 
enty. This  College  of  Bishops,  according  to 
the  Anglican  theory  of  the  Historic  Episco- 
pate, is  the  College  of  the  successors  of  the 
Apostles.  Here  is  the  wisdom  of  the  Church 
of  God.  This  is  the  one  body  that  can  'try  the 
.spirits.'  " 

Says  Mr.  Lecky,  the  Historian  :  "Can  the 
theory  of  a  communion  between  the  Latin  and 
Anglican  Churches  be  really  maintained 
though  the  Latin  body  scoDifitlly  rcf^iidiatcs 
it,  though  the  articles,  the  homilies  and  the 
early  theology  of  the  English  Church  breathe 
the  most  uncompromising  hostility  to  the 
Papacy,  though  the  blood  of  so  many  martyrs 
has  attested  the  gravity  of  the  separation?" 

The  whole  contention  for  the  "succession"  is 
based  upon  the  alleged  vital  relation  of  the  Eng- 
i6o 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

lish  Church  to  the  Roman  up  to  and  after  the 
separation — up  to  the  separation  as  a  part  of 
the  old  Cliurch  and  after  the  separation  as  co- 
ordinate with  it.  The  significant  fact  is  how- 
ever that  the  Trunk  repudiated  the  Branch  on 
both  sides  of  the  point  of  departure.  The 
Roman  Church  even  l^efore  the  schism  of  1532 
denounced  in  general,  any  such  partnership 
with  or  separation  from  or  coordination  with 
itself,  and  has  done  so  specifically  and  even 
fiercely,  ever  since. 

The  Episcopal  Church  is  very  like  a  man 
vociferously  toasting-  of  a  precious  jewel  and 
asking  extraordinary  credit,  and  claiming  large 
concessions  by  virtue  of  it,  when  he  can  never 
in  any  way  exhibit  it  as  in  his  possession,  and 
never  ])resent  any  documentary  proof  that  he 
ever  received  it,  while  in  the  meantime  a  rival 
party,  older  and  richer,  comes  forth,  and  shows 
the  necessary  documents  of  rightful  possession, 
when  suddenly  in  the  light  of  day  the  treasure 
161 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


is  found  after  all  to  be  no  substantial  jewel 
at  all,  but  only  a  simulacrum,  a  delusive  bauble. 

The  denominational  Pride  .of  the  modern 
Episcopalian  is  a  wonder  indeed.  In  respect  of 
other  Protestant  Churches  it  appears  in  full 
play  of  most  baseless  and  gratuitous  e.xclusive- 
ness  and  self-assertion.  Toward  the  Greek  and 
Roman  Churches  it  disappears  in  an  almost 
shameless  want  of  self-respect,  in  persistently 
courting  an  affiliation,  so  scornfully  and  unani- 
mously repudiated  by  the  older  Churches. 

Hear  Dr.  Donald,  of  the  Trinity  Episcopal 
Church.  Boston:  "Why  should  the  Episcopal 
Church  be  ready  to  affiliate  with  the  remote 
Greek  Church,  of  whose  spirit  and  work  so 
little  is  known  in  this  country,  while  it  refuses 
affiliation  with  American  Presbyterians,  Con- 
gregationalists,  and  Methodists?  Why  should 
the  old  Catholics  receive  a  recognition  and  sym- 
pathy with.held  from  Protestant  bodies?  Why 
should  Pere  Hyacinthe  be  received  with  open 
arms,  while  fellowship  is  refused  to  millions  of 
162 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

American  Baptists?  The  Greek  Church  prob- 
ably never  gave  tlie  Episcopal  Church  in  this 
country  a  single  priest.  The  Presb)^erian, 
Congregational,  and  Methodist  Churches  have 
given  the  Episcopal  Church,  bishops  and 
clerg}-  by  the  hundred.  The  religious  and  in- 
tellectual life  of  this  country  is  largely  identi- 
fied with  the  history  of  Congregationalism  and 
Presbyterianism,  and  is  largely  in  Congrega- 
tional and  Presbyterian  hands,  and  yet  these 
Churches  are  held  at  a  distance,  while  the 
Roman  Church,  not  freed  from  the  paganism 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  Greek  Church,  re- 
mote, inaccessible,  and  indifferent,  are  recog- 
nized as  Christian  brethren.  What  gives  this 
state  of  things  more  significance  is  the  fact  that 
neither  the  Roman  nor  the  Greek  Church  ac- 
knowledges the  validity  of  the  orders  in  the 
Anglican  or  American  Churches,  and  that  they 
refuse  all  affiliation.  In  other  words,  the  Epis- 
copal Church  of  to-day,  as  represented  by  many 
of  its  leaders,  stands  aloof  from  the  millions  of 
163 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


American  Christians  who  have  made  the  his- 
tory of  tlie  country,  founded  and  controlled  its 
colleges,  created  its  literature  and  largely 
shaped  its  development,  and  who  are  in  warm 
sympathy  with  the  Episcopal  Church,  while  it 
holds  out  its  hands  to  two  Churches  which-  will 
ha\e  nothing  to  do  with  it,  which  scorn  its 
claims,  and  are  themselves  a  itiated,  in  one  form 
or  another,  with  paganism.  This  is  a  very  sin- 
gular situation." 

Then  here  is  Dr.  William  R.  Huntington,  of 
Grace  Church,  with  his  "Talisman  of  Unity." 
Listen  to  him  :  "What  is  meant  by  Church 
Unity  in  the  United  States?  Such  unity.  I 
answer,  as  unites  the  States  thcmseh  cs,  namely, 
a  unity  so  real  that  it  can  show  indisputable 
tokens  like  the  Hag;  vocal  symbols  such  as  the 
oath  of  office  and  the  declaration  of  allegiance; 
personal  agents  of  administration,  such  as  gov- 
ernors and  magistrates:  a  simple  piatfurm  of 
I  clicf  upon  which  all  stand :  and  a  general 
scheme  of  conduct  to  which  those  who  are  of 
164 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

the  Commonwealtli  are  expected  to  conform 
themselves.  Such  is  unity  as  civih'ans  under- 
stand it :  wiiy  should  Churchmanship  take  up 
with  any  less  thorough  conception  of  what  it 
means  for  a  people  to  be  one?  How  often  we 
have  heard  it  from  the  platforms  of  union  meet- 
ings, interdenominational  love-feasts,  evangel- 
ical alliances,  and  such  like,  the  cry  that  God 
never  meant  His  people  to  be  one  in  any  sense 
that  would  make  their  unity  noticeable  to  the 
carnal  eye;  and  that  absolute  unity  of  spirit 
ought  to  be  accounted  entirely  compatible  with 
infinite  divisibility  of  body.  But,  if  that  con- 
tention be  correct,  what  are  we  to  make  of  those 
significant  words  of  Christ  in  his  great  inter- 
cession for  the  Church,  'that  they  all  may  be 
one  .  .  .  that  the  world  may  believe  that  Thoj 
hast  sent  me'?  'The  world,'  we  must  remem- 
ber, looks  on  with  carnal  eyes.  How  is  'the 
world,'  then,  to  discern  a  unity  which  has  no 
tokens? 

Christendom  is  to-day  moving  upon  hea- 
165 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

thendom  with  a  zeal  never  before  surpassed. 
But  what  of  the  methods  and  the  strategy? 
\\'ould  you  get  the  true  answer  to  that 
question  ?  Go  not  in  searcli  of  it  to  the 
publications  of  the  various  missionary  boards, 
go  not  to  the  missionary  boards  themselves,  go 
not  to  the  several  legislative  bodies,  General 
Conventions,  General  Assemblies,  and  General 
Conferences  which  stand  back  of  the  boards, 
but  go  to  the  actual  forces  in  the  hehl,  go  to 
the  men  and  women  at  the  front;  they  will  tell 
you  what  the  trouble  is.  The\'  will  tell  you, 
and  tell  you  with  much  warmth,  that  one  of 
the  chief  hindrances  to  missionary  progress  is 
denominational  rivalry — not  ri\alry  there,  but 
riw'dry  here,  not  a  sjjirit  of  comi)etition  and 
eagerness  for  the  preeminence  among  the  nu's- 
sionaries  themselves,  but  a  spirit  of  competi- 
tion and  eagerness  for  the  preeminence  among 
Secretaries,  Boards,  Conventions  and  Commit- 
tees in  these  United  Stated.  Once  let  American 
Christianity  begin  marching  upon  the  heathen 
i66 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


stronghold  with  that  unity  (jf  nietliod  wiiich 
the  Sirdar  showed  in  marching  on  Khartoum, 
and  we  shall  see  results  worth  scoring. 

But  marvellous  as  would  be  the  consequences 
abroad,  the  practical  effect  of  Church  Unity 
here  at  home  would  be  more  signal  still.  It 
has  lately  been  stated  on  high  authority  that 
less  than  one-half  of  tlie  people  of  this  country 
acknowledge  allegiance  to-day  to  any  form  of 
organized  Christianity.  Only  a  month  ago,  I 
heard  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  of  one  of 
our  largest  cities  quoted  as  having  said  that 
in  the  municipality  which  he  represented,  there 
were  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  children 
of  school  age  who  did  not  know  of  the  existence 
of  such  a  book  as  tlie  Bible. 

\\'hat  arc  the  most  formidable  of  the  ob- 
stacles that  block  the  wa\'  ?  They  are  these, 
putting  the  least  important  first  and  the  most 
important  last:  Vested  rights  of  property, 
deeds  of  gift,  inherited  trusts,  and  the  like; 
then,  on  another  level,  traditional  rivalries,  the 
167 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


transmitted  animosities  and  antagonisms  oi 
other  generations,  and  scores  of  burning  ques- 
tions, \\  hicli  ha\  e  been  acknowledged  burnt  out, 
years  ago,  had  not  a  mistaken  sense  of  duty  to 
ancestors  forljidden." 

What  unquestionable,  momentous  realities — 
how  well  portrayed ! 

Reading  this,  and  knowing  the  exalted  char- 
acter and  rare  attainments  of  Dr.  Huntington, 
as  well  as  his  usual  superiority  to  denomination- 
al fetters,  the  sanguine  apostle  of  Organized 
Christianity,  like  the  mistaken  Samuel  as  to 
Eliab  the  son  of  Jesse,  would  be  likely  to  ex- 
claim :  "Surely  the  Lord's  anointed  is  before 
Him  I"  Alas  not  so!  Instead  of  highest  en- 
thusiasm for  Organized  Christianity,  for  New 
Testament  Ends  and  Means,  Dr.  Huntington 
presents  instead  the  melancholy  plan  of  a  uni- 
versal Episcopal  Church,  mainly  on  the  ground 
of  its  being  on  a  plane  sufficiently  low  to  ac- 
commodate the  "Puritan,"  and  the  High  Church- 
man with  his  "ritualistic  excesses,"  both  at  once 
168 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


— this  too  when  all  the  laws  and  facts  of  the 
situation  unmistakably  proclaim,  that  when 
there  comes  to  the  now  lethargic  Church  a  re- 
vival of  conscience  and  heaven-inspired  fires  of 
zeal  for  truth  and  life,  there  can  be  between 
these  parties  no  abiding  peace  but  in  disruption. 

One  of  the  English  Bishops,  "at  his  recent 
diocesan  conference,  speaking  of  the  Church  at 
large,  expressed  his  fear  that  the  different 
schools  (high  and  low)  of  the  Church,  were 
not  likely  to  give  way  to  or  tolerate  each  other ; 
and  tliat  unless  the  mercy  of  God  interposed, 
the  Church  could  not  live  much  longer,  but 
must  go  to  pieces  and  perish.  He  could  not 
see  the  approaching  death  of  such  a  grand  old 
Church,  as  the  Episcopal  Church  of  England, 
without  deep  sorrow." 

Again  the  unwonted  quality  and  quantity  of 
sectarian  pride  rife  with  Episcopalians,  is  curi- 
ously and  strikingly  manifest  in  their  con- 
temptuous treatment  of  Reformed  Episcopa- 
lians. With  these,  grace,  truth,  power,  the  law 
169 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

ap.d  love  of  Christ,  the  tokens  of  the  Holy 
Spirit's  presence,  personal  holiness  indwelling, 
redemption  zeal  outreaching — all  things  of 
Bihle  Christianity  which  please  God  and  bless 
men,  appear  in  fully  as  clear  and  unquestion- 
able exhibition  as  anywhere  in  the  old  Church. 

Then,  moreover,  here  are  Episcopalians  and 
the  "Apostolic  Succession" — all  things  one 
would  say  for  the  highest  zeal  in  warmest 
Christian  fellowship.  But  in  fact  denomina- 
tional Pride  in  the  old  Churcli  is  relinked  in 
the  existence  and  teaching  of  the  new,  and  the 
Pride  angrily  responds,  and  the  Churches  are 
conspicuously  alienated. 

Of  course  Episcopalian  sectarians  are  no  ex- 
ception in  the  cliaracteristic  results  of  denomi- 
national regulations  and  conditions  at  the  gates 
of  entrance — by  whicli  man's  little  things  are 
made  to  trium[)h  over  God's  great  things.  By 
tlicir  regulations  and  practices,  the  administra- 
tion result  is  that  witliout,  stand  rejected  the 
most  surely  accredited  children  of  God,  in  clo- 
170 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


^est  fellowship  with  God  and  enjoying  the  full- 
est testimony  that  they  please  God,  while  with- 
in, entirely  at  home  and  warmly  welcomed  and 
not  always  inconspicuous,  are  multitudes,  with- 
out one  element  of  Christian  experience  in  evi- 
dence, and  who  in  sentiments  and  life,  are  sep- 
arated from  the  utterl}-  worklly  by  the  very 
faintest  discrimination. 

But  what  of  the  Methodists?  .\.re  they 
chargeable  with  a  Denominational  Pride  of 
creed  opinion,  which  hinders  their  swinging 
promptly  into  line  of  Organized  Christianity 
on  the  basis  of  the  prescribed  liberties  and  ex- 
actions of  the  New  Testament? 

It  is  said  of  \\'esley  that  in  defining  a  Metho- 
dist as  "not  a  man  distinguished  by  his  opin- 
ions, not  a  man  distingxiished  by  his  usages, 
not  a  man  distinguished  by  any  ordinary  mark 
of  behavior,"  but  as  distinctively  and  emphat- 
ically a  Christian,  he  wrote,  "If  some  men  say. 
Why,  these  arc  only  common,  fundamental 
principles  of  Christianity  by  which  you  would 
17' 


0 1  >^  C  A  X 1 Z  E  D  C  H  R I S  T I A  N 1 T  Y 

distinguish  a  Aletliodist,  thou  hast  said,  so  I 
mean  :  this  is  the  very  truth.  1  i<no\v  the\-  are, 
and  I  would  to  God  lioth  thou  and  all  men 
should  1  <no\\',  that  I  and  ah  who  follow  mv 
judgment,  do  vehemently  refuse  to  be  distin- 
g-uished  from  other  men  by  any  other  than  the 
common  principles  of  Christianity."  Yes,  and 
at  the  present  day,  this  is  very  nearly  descrip- 
tive of  them.  In  fact  the  matter  of  .\rminian- 
ism  and  Calvinism  is  practically  left  discretion- 
ary with  its  ministers  and  members  now,  alljeit 
in  any  disappearance  of  Methodism  in  Organ- 
ized Christianity  a  clear  announcement  that 
within  evangelical  limits  doctrinal  views  were 
discretionary  might  not  be  superfluous.  Then 
the  Methodist  is  quite  addicted  to  his  denomi- 
nation because  it  is  "Methodist,"  not  because 
of  anything  in  which  it  is  very  radically  differ- 
entiated from  pure  and  simple  Christianity,  but 
because  he  is  accustomed  to  his  Christianity  in 
the  garb  and  with  the  superficial  specialties  of 
Methodism,  to  which  he  has  become  attached 
172 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


and  of  which  very  hkely  not  a  httle  proud. 
Still  let  a  new  wave  of  heaven-inspired  entlni- 
siasm  for  the  "Name  which  is  above  every 
name" — lor  Christianity  in  its  four  Means  for 
its  four  Ends,  roll  over  into  his  neighborhood, 
the  Methotlist  would  be  found  an  easy  convert 
to  and  very  much  at  home  in  an  organized  New 
Testament  Church.  Me  could  be  counted  upon 
as  a  Christian,  and  not  hopelessly  mortgaged 
to  his  Denominational  Pride  of  Opinion. 

But  what  is  to  be  said — what  ])redicted — of 
the  spiritual  commonwealths  which  arc  tluis 
hopelessly  and  wilfully  mortgaged?  Not  only 
the  voice  of  Bible  prophet,  but  the  voices — the 
admonishing  voices  of  all  human  history  are 
continually  heard:  "Let  the  jjotsherd  strive 
with  the  potsherds  of  the  earth,  but  woe  unto 
him  that  striveth  with  his  Maker!"  The  ques- 
tion is.  with  the  Church  so  criminally  divided 
and  delin(|uent,  and  the  upturned  faces  of 
earth's  weary  and  wretched  millions  ^^o  piteous- 
ly.  though  blindly,  appealing  to  a  merciful 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITV 


Heaven  and  Christ's  redemption  love,  and 
Christ  and  all  Heaven  so  urgent  for  the  glad 
coming  of  the  Kingdom,  the  question  for  us 
is  :  Has  God,  in  this  beginning  of  the  twentieth 
century,  taken  "the  field"  and  is  God  now 
"marching  on  ?" 

Fifty  years  ago  in  the  cause  of  human  liberty 
and  uplift,  God  was  "marching  on."  The  peo- 
ple of  the  Southern  States,  however,  steadfastly 
refused  to  believe  it,  and  in  a  universal  self- 
complacency  in  existing  institutions  and  loftiest 
pride  of  political  and  religious  opinion,  first 
ignored  and  then  fought  the  heavenly  crusade. 
But  God  marclied  on,  and  the  tragic  story  of 
the  penalties  of  that  pride  has  never  been,  can 
never  be  told. 

There  is  now  for  the  Church  indeed  no  pro- 
phetic forecast  of  "battle  of  the  warrior,  and 
confused  noise,  and  garments  rolled  in  blood," 
but  there  is  prophetic  forecast  of  unwelcomed 
but  radical,  disintegrating  but  finally,  most 
beneficent  revolution  in  human  institutions, 
174 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


until  New  Testament  decrees  for  Xew  Testa- 
ment Christianity  are  fulfilled. 

Any  one  who  candidly  reads  the  Xew  Testa- 
ment and  noting  its  supreme  urgencies,  tlien 
examiries  the  Church  and  surveys  the  world, 
and  finally  studies  the  "signs  of  the  times.'"  can 
scarcely  fail  to  perceive  that  Christianity  is 
soon  to  be  organized  and  in  due  season  trium- 
phant, and  that  if  men  and  institutions  fail  of 
its  principles  and  grace  within,  while  neglect- 
ing its  transcendent  mission  witliout.  ecclesias- 
tical revolution  will  surely  follow.  And  we 
may  well  ask:  Is  it  now  at  the  doors?  Yes, 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  even  now 
"God  is  marching  on."  and  woe,  Zi'oc,  woe 
unto  the  organizations  and  the  men,  that  in 
Pride  of  human  opinion  or  attachments,  ob- 
struct the  march ! 


175 


CHAPTER  IV 


But  "what  is  the  interpretation  of  the 
thing?"  Is  there  nothing  deeper  than  this  sim- 
ple Pride  of  creed  opinion,  which  with  us  is 
making  for  divisions  ?  Let  us  see.  Let  us  now 
commission  and  then  for  hght,  follow  up  a 
young  reporter-lawyer,  a  keen,  intellectual, 
emancipated,  honest,  modern  student  of  twen- 
tieth century  piety,  aiming  at  "the  truth,  the 
whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  trutli" — and 
apt  to  discern  it.  At  the  outset,  he  commits  to 
memory  and  installs  in  the  throne-room  of  his 
intelligence,  Mr.  Gladstone's  saying,  "The 
longer  I  live,  the  more  I  feel  that  Christianity 
does  not  consist  in  any  particular  system  of 
clnu'ch  government  or  in  any  credal  statement, 
but  that  Christianity  is  Christ." 

First  in  a  general  \iew  he  takes  account  of 
176 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Anglo-Saxon  piety  in  Great  Britain  and  in- 
spects the  variegated  and  disputing  Presby- 
terians of  Scotland,  and  to  a  truly  penetrating 
view,  still  more  variegated  and  disputing  Epis- 
copalians of  England,  and  at  once  shocked  and 
disappointed,  cries  and  records,  "All  irrational 
humbug!"  But  he  is  mistaken.  A  goodly  de- 
gree of  sincerity  and  intelligence  obtains  in 
both  Churches. 

He  tries  now  the  Episcopal  Church  in  this 
country.  He  hears  an  officiating  Bishop  sol- 
emnly declare,  "We  bring  you  a  grace  that  can 
be  procured  nowhere  else,"  then  in  an  interview 
proceeds  to  cross-examine  the  dignified  witness. 
He  finds  that  taking  into  view  any  land, 
any  period,  any  parties,  the  Bishop  is  unable  to 
point  to  a  single  factor  of  Christian  life — holi- 
ness of  character,  heroic  deeds,  spiritual  unity, 
I>il)lc  learning,  I'ihlc  orthodoxy,  redemption 
zeal,  field  successes — anything  in,  or  up,  or  out 
— in  an  Episcopal  individual  or  organization 
which  the  Reporter  docs  not  find  fully  matched 
177 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


in  a  Presbyterian  Church.  Then  he  finds  that 
his  witness  cannot  charge  upon  another  Church 
a  single  instance  of  ignorance  or  deadness  or 
rancorous  division  or  heterodoxy  or  rascality 
or  corruption,  that  he  cannot  tind  a  match  for 
in  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  tliat  lie  can  suc- 
cessfully defy  the  Bishop  to  point  to  any  reali- 
ties whatever  that  indicate  Heaven's  special 
favor  of  Providence  or  Grace.  Eorcing  thus 
the  Bishop  indirectly  to  confess  that  a  "Club" 
is  just  as  much  to  God  and  for  Gcd,  as  the 
"Church,"  lie  loses  patience  and  declares:  "It 
is  all  irrational  humbug"."  But  he  is  mistaken. 
The  Bishop  is  perfectly  sincere  and  somewhat 
intelligent. 

Now  he  investigates  a  Baptist,  and  taking 
for  his  starting  proposition  the  Baptist  minis- 
ter in  Tennessee  who  wanted  to  baptise  his  sick 
child,  when  she  was  too  ill  to  l)e  immersed,  and 
so  sprinkled  her,  and  was  duly  expelled  from 
the  ministry  for  the  same,  he  asks,  who,  after 
this  presumal)lv  godb-  and  faithful  man  was 
178 


ORGANIZED  C H R 1 STIA X IT Y 

cast  out,  remained.  He  found  remaining  and 
in  good  standing,  ncme  who  had  sprinkled  any- 
Ijody  under  any  urgency  of  hfe  or  death,  hut 
any  number  wlio  liad  no  record  wiiatever  for 
grace  or  ]-)()\vcr  in  general,  and  as  to  other  ordi- 
nances— tlic  Lord's  Supper,  for  example — no 
zeal  as  to  the  modes  of  it  or  for  the  Lord  who 
instituted  it,  and  lociking  now  outside  and  now 
inside,  he  grows  indignant  and  declares  and 
records:  "It  is  all  irrational  humhug!"  But 
again  he  is  mistaken.  The  Tennessee  Baptist^; 
were  conscientious  and  somewhat  intelligent  all 
the  time. 

Next  he  takes  in  hand  the  Presljyterians.  He 
reads  Dr.  Charles  Hodge :  "The  nearer  we 
keep  to  the  simple  authoritative  statements  of 
God's  \\^)r(l,  the  nrmcr  will  he  our  faith,  the 
more  full  and  free  our  access  to  God,  and  the 
more  harmonious  and  healthful  oiu^  whole  re- 
ligious experience.  Such  i>  the  informing 
influence  of  such  experience,  when  it  is  genu- 
ine; that  is  when  really  guided  by  the  Spirit 
179 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

and  conformed  to  the  revelation  of  God,  that 
it  effects  a  far  nearer  coincidence  of  views  in 
all  the  children  of  God  than  the  nniltiplicity  of 
sects  and  conflicting  s\*^tems  of  theology  would 
lead  us  to  imagine.  The  mass  of  true  Chris- 
tians, in  all  denominations,  get  their  religion 
directly  from  the  Bihle.  and  are  but  little  af- 
fected by  the  peculiarities  of  their  creeds.  And 
even  among  those  who  make  theology  a  study, 
there  is  often  one  form  of  doctrine  for  specu- 
lation, and  another,  simpler  and  truer,  for  the 
closet.  iNletaphysical  distinctions  are  forgot  in 
prayer,  or  under  the  pressure  of  real  conviction 
of  sin,  and  need  of  pardon  and  of  divine  as- 
sistance. Hence  it  is  that  the  devotional  writ- 
ings of  Christians  agree  far  nearer  than  their 
creeds.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  that 
mode  of  stating  divine  truth  which  is  most  in 
accordance  with  the  devotional  language  of 
true  Christians,  which  best  e.xpresses  those 
views  which  the  soul  takes  when  it  appropriates 
1 80 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  for  its  own  spiritual 
emergencies,  is  the  truest  and  the  best." 

Reading  this  and  recalling  Dr.  Hodge's  grief 
and  pathetic  tears,  years  ago  in  the  General 
Assembly  at  Al]}any,  because  as  he  lamented 
there  was  "to  be  hereafter  no  more  Old  School 
Presbyterian  Church" — when,  in  fact,  not  one 
member  in  a  thousand  and  not  one  elder  in 
twenty  could  have  told,  between  Old  and  New. 
the  difference,  and  which  to-day.  to  ninety-nine 
ministers  out  of  a  hundred,  would  be  a  serious 
problem — while  no  man  to-day  in  any  sphere 
pretends  that  any  loss  or  evil  resulted  from  the 
union.  Thus  reading  and  recalling,  our  re- 
porter-lawyer again  records  "What  irrational 
humbug!"  and  is  again  mistaken.  Dr.  Charles 
Hodge  was  ever  "clear  as  crystal"  in  sincerity 
and  in  spiritual  ruid  intellectual  power,  not  only 
"honorable  among  the  thirty"  of  Israel,  but  of 
the  "three,"  and  not  only  of  the  "three."  but 
like  Abishai,  "chief  among  the  three,"  in  his 
i8i  . 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


day,  as  might  be  said,  the  First  American 
Christian ! 

Then  our  investigator  calls  in  Princeton  upon 
Drs.  Patton  and  Warfield.  He  hears  the  for- 
mer say :  "It  is  quite  true  that  the  doctrines 
that  Christians  hold  in  common  are  more  im- 
portant than  those  which  separate  them.  But 
the  way  to  conserve  that  which  is  common  to 
all  is  for  each  to  be  jealous  of  the  doctrine  that 
is  peculiar  to  itself.  Defend  the  outposts  if  you 
wish  to  defend  the  citadel."  And  knowing  that 
the  true  "citadel"  includes  in  its  strategic  and 
all  comprehensi\e  scope  every  appointed  ele- 
ment of  spiritual  light  and  power  anywhere  on 
the  field,  and  that  "each  jealous  of  the  doctrine 
peculiar  to  itself"  means  thirty  rival  parties  in 
self-indulgence  jealous  of  each  other — thirty 
Pauls,  Apolloses,  and  Cephases  on  the  jiro- 
scril^ed  circumference  of  the  circle  at  the  center 
of  which,  all  sufticient  "for  all  things,"  Christ 
reigns  as  "Head  o\  er  all  things  tn  the  CIuutIi." 
he  records  again,  "What  irrational  humbug!" 
182 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Next  Dr.  W'arfield :  Our  Reporter  listens 
as  he  identifies  Christianity  and  Calvinism  and 
says :  'Tn  proportion  as  we  are  religious,  in 
that  proportion  are  we  Calvinistic,  and  when  re- 
ligion comes  fully  to  its  rights  in  our  thinking, 
and  feeling-  and  doing,  then  shall  we  be  truly 
Cah'inistic.  Cah'inism  is  not  merely  the  hope 
of  true  religion  in  the  world,  it  is  true  religion 
in  the  world — as  far  as  true  religion  is  in  the 
wrirld  at  all"  :  and  then  corners  hiiu  by  asking 
him  to  name  a  single  Christian  man  of  any 
place  or  age,  who,  intelligent  and  spiritual  and 
fired  with  passion  for  Christ,  and  truth,  and 
lo\-e  for  Gnd  and  man.  yet  failed  in  general  or 
failed  in  comparison  witli  any  CaK'inist  who 
ever  lived,  in  any  respect  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion. Dr.  W'arfield,  he  somewhat  heatedly 
affirms,  mistakes  the  "fat"  of  Cahinism  ftjr 
the  "vitality"  of  Christianity,  and  again  records 
—"More  irrational  humbug!"  and  is  again  mis- 
taken. Drs.  I'alton  ami  W  arlield  are  most  sin- 
cere, scholarlv,  thoughtful  and  able  men. 
i«3 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

But  "wliat  is  the  interpretation  of  the 
thing?"  Reviewing  his  investigations,  and 
much  perplexed  thereabout  and  a  little  sus- 
pecting himself  and  a  good  deal  suspecting 
some  occult  element  in  the  business,  our  re- 
porter-lawyer takes  to  studying  Biases  and 
Prejudices.  This  leads  him  to  read  and  quote 
Bacon.  Bacon  taught  a  lesson  much  forgotten 
and  much  needed  in  these  later  days — that  to 
reason  reliably  upon  facts  or  principles,  a  man 
must  first  of  all  cast  out  his  interior  "idols" — 
"idols  of  the  tribe,"  that  is  dominating  biases 
common  to  all  men ;  "idols  of  the  cave."  that  is 
dominating  biases  which  belong  to  an  indi- 
vidual ;  "idols  of  the  forum."  that  is  dominating 
biases  which  come  from  en\  ironment ;  "idols 
of  the  theatre,"  that  is  dominating  biases  estab- 
lished and  maintained  by  tradition.  And  in  a 
Novum  Organum  note  Dr.  Thomas  Fowler 
says:  "The  proneness  of  the  mind  to  rest  in 
first  jirincijilcs  [impressions?],  however  ol> 
tained  and  to  resent  any  examinatioii  of  them 
184 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


is  clue  mainly  to  a  combination  of  pride  with 
mental  indolence.  W  e  recoil  from  the  trouble 
of  reviewing  what  lies  at  the  bottom  of  so  many 
of  our  beliefs,  and  we  are  too  proud  to  acknowl- 
edge that  we  ha\e  been  so  long  and  so  frequent- 
ly in  error.  To  a  certain  extent  also  it  may  be 
accounted  for  by  the  principle  of  association. 
W  e  have  ourselv  es  repeated  or  heard  the  maxim 
repeated  by  others  so  fre(juently  and  in  con- 
nection with  so  many  other  propositions  that 
v.e  accept  as  true,  that  we  can  hardly  conceive 
it  being  called  in  question." 

Much  to  the  same  intent  is  Pascal :  "W'e 
must  not  mistake  (nirselves.  we  have  as  mucli 
that  is  automatic  in  us  as  intellectual,  and  hence 
it  comes  that  the  instrument  by  which  i)ersua- 
sion  is  brought  aljout,  is  not  demonstration 
alone.  How  few  things  are  demonstrated! 
Proofs  can  only  convince  the  mind;  custom 
makes  our  strongest  proofs  and  those  which 
we  hold  most  firmly,  it  sways  the  automaton, 
which  draws  the  unconscious  intellect  after  it. 
185 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


.  .  .  It  is  custom  that  con\  inces  us,  custom  that 
makes  so  many  men  Christians,  custom  that 
makes  them  Turks,  heathen,  artisans,  soldiers." 

Says  Tyndall :  "The  desire  to  establish  or 
to  avoid  a  certain  result  can  so  warp  the  mind 
as  to  destroy  its  power  of  estimating  facts." 
Says  Beecher :  "Our  real  commentators  are 
our  strongest  traits  of  character;  and  we  usual- 
ly come  out  of  the  Bible  with  all  those  texts 
sticking  to  us  which  our  idiosyncrasies  attract." 
Says  an  English  physician  of  his  town  :  "I  had 
not  been  in  it  a  month  before  I  discovered  that 
while  education  affects  the  heads  of  the  people, 
and  penetrates  those  only  a  little  way,  the  old 
traditions  are  t'f  their  hearts,  only  to  be  driven 
cut  by  generations  of  patient  teaching." 

Says  Alark  Twain  in  "A  Connecticut  Yan- 
kee in  King  Arthur's  Court" :  "Inherited 
ideas  are  a  curious  thing  and  interesting  to  ob- 
serve and  examine.  I  had  mine,  the  king  and 
his  people  had  theirs.  In  both  cases  they  flowed 
in  ruts  worn  deep  by  time  and  habit,  and  the 
'  186 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


man  who  should  have  proposed  to  divert  them 
by  reason  or  argument  would  have  liad  a  long 
contract  on  his  hands." 

So  Drs.  George  B.  Cheever  and  Charles  S. 
Robinson.  Says  the  former :  "The  effect  of  pre- 
judice and  doubt  upon  our  first  ideas  of  truth, 
that  are  deposited  in  the  mind  to  germinate  into 
life  by  a  childlike  faith,  may  be  illustrated  from 
physiology  by  the  experiment  of  varnish  on  an 
egg.  Eggs  \arnished  cannot  be  hatched,  be- 
cause they  have  been  hermetically  sealed  and  iso- 
lated from  what  might  be  called  the  air  and 
life  pulsations.  The  mother  hen  might  sit  upon 
them  with  all  requisite  constancy,  but  the  em- 
bryo will  not  germinate  into  life  with  the  var- 
nish on  the  shell.  The  air  cannot  pass  through 
the  envelope,  and  there  is,  consequently,  no  life, 
but  after  a  little  while,  death.  Such  is  the 
stifling  effect  of  prejudice  and  doubt  upon  the 
germs  of  truth,  even  in  minds  the  most  active." 
And  the  latter,  after  quoting  "the  shrewd  and 
weiglitv  aphorism"  of  Goethe,  "As  are  one's 
187 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

inclinations  so  are  his  opinions,"  says :  "Any 
vigorous  man's  views  of  difficult  points  of  doc- 
trine are  largely  swayed  and  eventually  fixed  by 
his  own  personality.  Human  decision  depends 
less  upon  logic,  and  more  upon  life.  Most  men 
choose  their  intellectual  jiosition,  and  take  their 
practical  stand,  under  the  powerful — although 
often  unconscious — pressure  of  temperament, 
education,  and  taste;  as  each  'thinketh  in  his 
heart,  so  is  he.'  " 

And  now  the  "lawyer"  in  the  rei)orter  takes 
account  of  this  significant  newspaper  comment : 
"It  is  only  just  to  inention  that  the  decision  was 
not  unanimous,  and  that  Chief  Justice  l-'uller, 
of  Illinois,  Mr.  Justice  White,  of  Louisiana, 
and  Mr.  Justice  Peckham,  (jf  New  York,  voted 
against  the  constitutionality  of  the  Sherman 
Anti-trust  law ;  Init  it  is  n'ot  often  that  a  de- 
cision, even  in  the  Supreme  Court,  can  lie  ren- 
dered entirely  free  from  political  bias.  W  e  do 
not  mean  that  such  distinguished  Democrats  as 
those  we  have  mentioned  would  consciously  al- 
188 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


low  party  considerations  to  influence  them  in 
forming  their  opinions — far  from  it ;  our  Su- 
preme Court  is  composed  of  men  above  even 
the  suspicion  that  such  would  be  the  case.  But 
there  remains  an  unconscious  influence  that 
will  affect  even  the  most  intelligent  and  upright 
men,  and  no  man  can  get  away  fron.i  it";  and 
recalls  that  in  the  Hayes-Tilden  i)residential 
controversy  of  1877,  of  the  Electoral  Commis- 
sion without  exception.  Democratic  Supreme 
Court  Justices  voted  on  the  Democratic  side, 
and  the  Republicans  on  the  Republican  side. 
I-'urthcrmore,  he  remembers  th.at  before  i860 
and  "the  war,"  all  the  thinkers  and  reasoners 
and  conscientious  men  and  women,  equally  with 
the  mercenary  and  selfish  and  ignorant, 
were  pro-slavery  advocates — authors,  teachers, 
judges,  statesmen,  ministers,  bishops — all ! 

The  investigator  concludes  his  steadily  en- 
larging and  at  last,  immense  appreciation  of 
biases  and  ])reposscssii  >ns  by  observing  and 
chronicling  two  convincing  illustrations  far 
189 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

apart  in  terrestrial  location,  and  as  far  apart  in 
social  and  moral  location.  He  reads:  "Until 
very  recently  there  existed  in  India  the  remains 
of  a  religious  sect  called  Thugs.  Less  than  a 
century  ago  they  numbered  thousands  of  mem- 
bers. They  were  worshipers  of  the  goddess 
Kali,  and  it  was  their  belief  that  they  should 
murder  inofifensive  people  in  honor  of  Kali. 
They  had  their  rule?  and  rites  of  murder,  hand- 
ed down  from  father  to  son.  They  worked  in 
bands,  and  under  all  possible  disguises  in- 
gratiated themselves  into  the  confidence  of  trav- 
elers, and  then  strangled  and  buried  them. 
Their  victims  numl^ered  not  less  than  thirt)' 
thousand  a  year.  The  British  officers,  who  sup- 
pressed them,  declared  that  many  of  them  were 
gentlemen  of  conscientious  life,  cultivated  and 
eminently  respectable,  who  fully  believed  they 
were  doing  their  duty,  as  they  had  Ijeen  taught 
their  religion  from  infancy.  Some  of  them  had 
the  record  of  hundreds  of  murders.  But  they 
190 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


were  not  insane ;  they  w  ere  simply  victims  of 
an  erroneous  belief  as  to  duty." 

Then  this  from  the  Church  Times:  "It  is 
useless  to  try  to  convince  the  English  layman 
that  the  sacramental  bread  is  or  contains  the 
body  of  Christ,  by  bluntly  telling  him  so;  but 
if  we  can  induce  him  for  a  year  or  more  to 
adore  the  bread,  paying  lov.  ly  reverence  thereto, 
he  will  then  find  little  difficulty  in  accepting  the 
Catholic  doctrine" ;  which  means  that  what  you 
cannot  introduce  into  the  convictions  of  a  man 
through  his  intelligence  and  reason,  you  can 
introduce  through  his  acquired  impressions  and 
Biases ! 

Finally  he  recalls  the  often  quoted  saying  of 
the  Roman  prelate,  that  if  he  can  have  exclusive 
control  of  the  religious  education  of  children 
until  they  are  eight  years  old,  he  will  take  his 
chances  on  the  coming  years,  and  "rests." 

Taking  leave  now  of  our  Reporter  there  re- 
main several  things  to  record:  i.  The  "irra- 
tional humbug" — (and  no  mistake  about  it  this 
191 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

time) — of  the  derelict  and  laisses  faire  senti- 
ment that  earnest  mutvial  debate  between  the 
denominations  and  uncomplimentan-  criticism 
from  without,  is  not  "in  good  form."  2.  That 
denominational  enthusiasm  is  largely  a  matter 
of  self-gratification,  of  personal  and  corporate 
self-indulgence  in  coddling  and  celebrating 
Biases.  3.  That  for  a  True  Church  in  the 
regulation  unit}'  and  spiritualit\'  and  efficiency', 
the  f>Ian  must  be  that  of  Ends  and  Means  as 
hereinbefore  rudely  sketched,  and  the  poiccr, 
the  direct  omnipotence  of  God  Himself.  Man 
can  enlighten  ignorance,  convince  the  under- 
standing, give  polarization  to  the  reason  and 
the  judgment,  and  constri^in  the  will — God 
alone,  in  a  human  heart,  can  dethrone  or  con- 
vert or  banish  a  Bias !  For  the  casting  out  of 
the  "Evil  spirit"  of  a -Bias,  there  is  for  the 
denominational  sufferer  but  one  available,  one 
valid  proposition — the  same  that  in  gospel  days 
followed  failure  with  omnipotence  at  the  moun- 
tain base,  "Bring  him  unto  me!" 

192 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

At  this  point  Dr.  Charles  Parkhurst  can  be 
fittingly  and  profitably  heard  :  "It  is  urged  that 
denominations  have  their  grounds  in  the  inevi- 
ta1)lc  differences  that  exist  among  men,  it  is 
sufficient  to  reply  that  those  differences  are  no 
greater  now  than  they  were  in  the  apostolic 
times  when  denominations  had  not  yet  begun  to 
be  thought  of.  There  were  the  same  essential 
incongruities  and  disparities  as  now ;  the  same 
differences  in  schooling  and  in  the  way  of  inter- 
preting Christ  and  truth;  l)ut  none  of  these 
differences  were  felt  to  cut  into  the  substance  of 
the  matter,  and  therefore  introduced  no  jarring 
note  into  the  Christian  concord  of  the  first  f(jl- 
lowers  of  our  Lord.  There  was  no  proposition 
to  have  one  clnu'ch  for  the  gifted  disciples  and 
another  for  the  unschooled;  one  for  the  rich 
and  another  for  the  impecunious;  one  for  the 
Peters  who  could  put  their  loyalty  to  Jesus  in 
one  form  of  confession,  and  another  for  the 
Thomases  who  found  it  a  little  difficult  to 
phrase  their  loyalty  to  Jesus  in  quite  the  Petrine 
193 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

form  of  declaration.  It  was  with  them  all 
purely  a  matter  of  personal  following,  founded 
exc]usi\ely  in  the  common  commitment  of 
themselves  to  their  risen  and  ascended  Lord. 
Consequently  there  could  be  but  one  church. 

No  doubt  the  church  did  not  long  continue 
in  that  primitive  condition.  The  instant  a 
Christian  ceases  to  be  completely  bound  up  in 
his  divine  Lord  his  regards  begin  to  settle 
back  into  the  channel  of  his  own  individual 
proclivities;  and  that  is  the  genius  of  denomi- 
nation. Denomination  is  not  made  up  of  the 
essence,  but  of  the  accidents  of  Christianity.  A 
denomination  is  another  name  for  some  single 
strand  of  personal  eccentricity  selected  from 
each  of  a  number  of  counterparts  and  tied  up 
into  one  bundle.  ^Methodism.  Presbyterianism, 
Episcopacy,  are  each  of  them  a  dignified  way 
of  designating  a  temperamental  idiosyncracy ; 
and  when  enough  of  either  of  these  three  stripes 
of  idiosyncratics  are  brought  together,  the  re- 
sult is  a  Methodist  Church,  or  a  Presbyterian 
J  94 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Cliurcli,  or  an  Episcopal  Church,  as  tlie  case 
may  be.  That  is  the  genius  of  the  entire  per- 
formance." 


195 


CHAPTER  V 


Denominations  now  directly  and  at  closer 
quarters : 

Years  ago.  illustrating  the  meanness  of  spir- 
itual dilatoriness,  Mr.  Beecher  pictured  the 
United  vStates  relief  steamer  anchoring  in  the 
harbor  of  the  starving  Irish  and  in  thrilling 
passion  of  eloquence,  voiced  their  herce  appeal 
of  desperate  hunger  and  distress:  "Unload! 
unload!  unload!" — this  in  what  they  did  want. 
To-day  great  millions  of  both  saints  and  sinners 
hungering  for  the  bread  of  life,  before  the 
Christian  Clun-ch,  are  heard  in  the  same  clam- 
orous imploring  cry:  "Unload!  unload!  un- 
load!"— but  now  in  the  things  that  they  do 
not  want.  Discharge  your  ])ernici()us  cargo 
of  "idols"  and  prejudices,  your  arms  and  ar- 
]()6 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


mor  of  denominational  divisions! — is  their 
thong-ht. 

Let  US  now  at  tlie  outset,  and  in  a  prelimi- 
nary way.  for  a  moment,  notice  of  our  present 
denominational  segregation,  two  intolerable, 
although  subordinate  and  apparently  superfi- 
cial factors  of  administration.  The  one  is 
heresy  trials,  the  otlier,  ministerial  support. 

Whether  a  minister  shall  lie  witliin  the  en- 
closure (){  any  particular  denomination,  or  in 
one  rather  than  another,  is  usually  at  the  root 
of  things,  a  matter  of  \-ery  little  accmmt,  even 
to  himself.  In  any  event,  life,  libertv,  pursuit 
of  h<'ip])incss  or  knowledge  or  usefulness  or  lioli- 
ncss  are  fully  open  to  liim.  But  in  the  very  sim- 
ple matter  of  deciding  a  man's  ecclesiastical 
location,  denominational  prosecutors,  from  the 
most  preposterous  codes  of  procedure,  can  as 
willi  an  earthquake  shake  and  disturb  and  dis- 
tress the  entire  (liiu'cli,  and  o])en  the  way  for 
the  worldh'  and  "yellow"  Press  gleefully  to 
make  the  courts  of  inctMised  hohness  "smell  to 
197 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

hea\  en"  in  offence  rank  of  disputation  and  acri- 
mony. And  what  is  more,  one  man,  one  accu- 
ser out  of  his  own  idiosyncracies.  or  something 
worse,  if  shrewd  and  determined,  can  do  it  all. 

Church  leaders  in  this  country  need  enlight- 
enment and  instruction  from  the  Produce  Ex- 
change. 

If  here  one  member  supposes  another  to  be 
an  offender,  what  does  he  do?  He  quietly  ad- 
dresses the  Committee  of  Complaints.  If  these 
decide  that  there  is  "none  occasion  nor  fault," 
tlie  matter  vanishes  at  once.  If  otherwise,  the 
case  is  referred  to  the  Committee  of  .Arbitra- 
tion :  a  full  hearing  is  accorded  to  all  parties, 
and  a  decision  rendered  which  settles  the  mat- 
ter forever,  and  not  a  ripple  of  agitation  reaches 
the  outside  world,  or  feeds  the  curiosity  of  the 
public  or  affects  for  an  hour,  the  harmony  and 
efficiency  of  the  Exchange  itself.  Heaven  and 
earth  are  calling  upon  Organized  Christianity 
to  rid  denominationalism  of  "heresy  trials" 
198 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


and  to  give  a  Church  to  be  as  judicially  digni- 
fied as  a  Produce  Exchange. 

The  other  factor,  abundantly  sufficient  in  it- 
self to  warrant  the  most  revolutionary  abolition 
of  denominations,  appears  in  the  matter  of 
ministers'  salaries,  which  on  the  average  are 
less  than  seven  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

Does  the  American  Public,  do  the  American 
Editors,  do  the  men  of  thought  and  conscience 
in  the  Churches  themselves,  realize  what  that 
means — what  untold  wrongs  and  injustice  and 
excuseless  meanness  are  reported  in  that  simple 
statement  ? 

Do  the  students  of  political  economy,  the 
writers  of  American  history  realize  what  it  is 
to  have  scattered  through  the  communities, 
North,  South,  East  and  West,  in  a  prosperous 
and  enlightened  country  like  ours,  150,000  men 
— cultivated,  refined  men,  many  with  families 
like-minded — men  who  have  spent  seven  years 
of  special  sacrincc  and  studious  diligence  for 
their  calling,  to  which  they  have  come  and  in 
199 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


■which  they  are  held  simply  by  the  noble  desire 
to  please  God  and  bless  men.  and  half  of  them 
living  on  less  than  seven  hundred  dollars  a 
year  ? 

Suppose  that  some  deep-reaching  and  far- 
reaching  organization  of  this  world — the 
Standard  Oil  Company  or  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road Company  for  example — got  into  its  re- 
lentless grasp  tens  of  thousands  of  educated 
and  cultivated  men  and  then,  by  some  sacred 
motive  within  to  which  they  appealed,  and  by 
some  compelling  force  without,  which  they  ap- 
plied, held  them  there  year  after  year,  and  dec- 
ade after  decade  of  their  prosperity — and  pay- 
ing them  on  the  average  but  seven  hundred 
dollars  a  year — the  dictionaries  would  be  beg- 
gared of  scornful  words  with  which  to  de- 
nounce them  in  their  disgraceful  and  hateful 
meanness ! 

And  if  anybody  supposes  that  either  the  gen- 
erous manhood  of  intelligent  and  energetic 
Americans,  or  the  just  and  compassionate  God. 
200 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


"keepino-  watch  above  His  own."  is  going  to 
tolerate  this  gratuitous  abomination  on  the  part 
of  denominational  leaders — simply  that  they 
may  be  gratified  in  denominational  attachments 
— on  during  the  twentieth  century,  they  are 
assuredly  luistaken.  They  know  not  God  or  the 
signs  of  the  times. 

But  n(AV  of  the  dencjminations  let  us  definite- 
ly remark  that  they  are  : 

1.  Baseless  and  unscientific  in  constitution 
and  segregation. 

2.  According  to  their  raisoii  d'etre,  endless 
in  number. 

3.  While  not  Scriptural  or  philosophical  in 
theory,  not  feasible  in  operatitMi  at  home  or 
abroad. 

4.  Objectionable,  negatively,  positively. 

5.  P.y  all  the  tokens  of  earth  and  heaven, 
doomed. 

Alike  in  press  and  pulpit,  dcndniinatioiial 
apologists  are  forexcr  telling  us,  with  endless 
ingenuities  of  cl()(|uencc.  that  sectarian  divi- 
201 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

sions  are  inevita1)le  becaii-c  of  tlie  many-sided 
aspects  of  revealed  truth  and  radical  differences 
in  mental  constitutions.  They  tell  us.  "vou 
cannot  have  organic  unity  because  men  cannot 
change  their  intelligent  and  conscientious  con- 
victions." "Grounds  for  these  denominational 
divergences  are  found  in  the  very  nature  of 
man  as  he  is  constituted,"  they  say. 

Addressing  the  Federation  Convention,  Hon. 
David  J.  Brewer,  Justice  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court,  said :  "Denominations  exist, 
will  exist  and  ought  to  exist.  Their  existence 
is  in  no  manner  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of 
unity  which  should  animate  all.  They  only  il- 
lustrate the  great  plan  of  the  universe — unity 
in  variety.  Not  one  ilower  alone,  but  a  count- 
less number,  with  differences  of  form,  color 
and  leaf,  mantle  the  earth  during  tlie  summer 
days,  yet  a  single  thought  of  loeauty  pervades 
the  whole  floral  world.  No  one  mountain  peak 
is  like  another  in  elevation,  form,  disi)lay  of 
rock  and  forest,  but  all  appeal  to  our  sense  of 

202 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

grandeur.  There  is  a  marked  apparent  differ- 
ence between  the  falling  of  the  leaf,  the  drop- 
ping of  the  aeronaut  from  his  balloon  and  the 
stupendous  majesty  of  Niagara's  falling  waters, 
yet  all  obey  one  law — the  law  of  gravitation, 
^lan,  though  made  in  the  image  of  God,  is  of 
all  creations  the  most  varied  and  complex.  No 
two  faces  are  exactly  alike.  No  two  minds  are 
identical  in  their  processes  and  conceptions. 
The  chords  of  feeling  and  passion  in  no  two 
hearts  are  tuned  to  precisely  the  same  key.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  infinite  variety,  there  is  a 
manifest  unity  in  face  and  mind  and  heart.  So 
while  differences  of  creed,  in  ideas  of  worship 
and  governmental  polity,  separate  the  Chris- 
tian world  into  many  denominations,  all  are 
united  by  a  common  devotion  to  a  single  Mas- 
ter. These  various  denominations,  responding 
to  the  different  wants  of  the  human  soul,  make 
known  in  the  language  of  the  apostle  'the  mani- 
fold wisdom  of  God.'  " 

This  is  fine  literature  but  very  poor  psychol- 
-'03 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


ogy — if  the  Justice  will  permit  us  to  say  so. 
Of  course  in  the  exhibitions  of  nature  and 
human  nature,  there  is  an  evident  and  inter- 
esting variety.  But  for  the  human  subject,  in 
the  hour  and  crisis  of  supreme  action,  his  spe- 
cialties, imless  they  pertain  directly  and  con- 
tributively  to  the  urgent  business  in  hand,  ought 
to  be  and  can  be  resolutely  suppressed.  If  God 
calls  for  organized  Christianity  it  is  the  Chris- 
tian's duty  and  privilege  to  curb  and  deny  him- 
self in  those  elements  of  his  being  which  mili- 
tate against  it,  even  though  they  argue  for  a 
'denomination. 

Our  neighbors,  the  Life  Saving  men,  may 
serve  us  for  illustration  in  this  respect.  When 
there  is  "nothing  doing,"  and  "off  duty,"  they 
are  free  to  indulge  their  personal  eccentricities, 
you  see  them  here  on  the  bayside,  shooting  or 
fishing,  one  in  a  skiff,  one  in  a  "sneak-box," 
one  in  a  dory,  one  in  a  yawl,  one  in  a  canoe, 
one  in  a  punt,  one  in  a  bateau.  But  let  the 
crv,  "a  wreck  in  the  offing"  be  resounded,  do 
204 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

you  see  them  now  in  ''diversity"  instead  of 
"unity,"  in  "variety"  instead  of  "harmony," 
each  "conscientiously  adhering  to  what  he  per- 
sonally ]:)elie\  cs."  in  the  "necessary  divergences 
of  human  nature,"  i;aiufully  dragging  across 
the  beach,  each  the  craft  of  his  own  personal 
idiosyncrasy  and  se\-cn  men  in  seven  precarious 
"tubs,"  paddling  to  the  rescue?  Of  course  not. 
Now  according  to  the  law  of  the  emergency,  as 
determined  alike  by  principles  and  experience, 
stringently  interpreted  and  unanimously  re- 
garded, in  unity  tliey  meet  the  practical  ends 
of  the  situation  for  themselves  and  others  and 
in  "organic  unity"  in  one  true  life  craft,  with 
"one  mind"  dare  and  do.  On  the  bay  they 
might  be  denominationalists,  on  the  ocean  they 
must  be  Christians.  Twentieth  century  believ- 
ers are  on  the  ocean ! 

Look  in  ui)on  this  excited,  surging,  debating, 
bantering  crtnvd  of  the  New  York  Stock  Ex- 
change,   You  have  here,  not  only  i)icturcs(|uc 
but  measureless  varieties  (jf  the  genus  homo, 
205 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


But  when  "on  "change""  every  possible,  dearest 
element  of  personal  idiosyncrasy  is  ruthlessly 
turned  out  of  doors,  if  it  at  all  interferes  with 
negotiating  securities.  "This  one  thing  I  do" 
every  man  is  crying,  and  suppressing  every 
personal  eccentricity  which  interferes  with,  or 
indeed  does  not  contriljute  to  his  doing. 

In  the  general  Church  the  diversified  ele- 
ments of  human  nature  neither  justify  nor  ac- 
count for  denominations,  and  if  denominations 
did  represent  differing  elements  in  human 
nature,  they  would  not  on  that  account  be  justi- 
fied. 

But  we  now  advance  to  remark  that  our 
denominations  do  not  represent  essential  ele- 
ments in  liuman  nature.  What  "differing  wants 
of  the  human  soul'"  arc  in  fact  met  in  our  "vari- 
ous denominations""?  Are  there  with  us  one 
hundred  and  forty-three  "differing  wants  of  the 
human  soul"?  "Differences  of  creed,  ideas  of 
worship  and  governmental  policy"  do  "separate 
the  Christian  world  into  many  denominations," 
206 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

no  doubt,  l)ut  how  many  of  tliese  differences 
of  creed  and  ideas  belong  at  all  to  fundamental 
and  essential  elements  of  human  character? 
Are  there  one  hundred  and  forty-three  varieties 
of  these  essential  elements?  Suppose  Justice 
Brewer  had  sounded  even  the  thirty  represent- 
atives of  sectarian  organization  before  him  in 
the  Federation  Convention,  wtndd  he  have 
struck  thirty  "differing  essential  elements  of 
human  character,"  to  match  the  denoiuinations  ? 
What  psychologist  would  accord  thirty  differ- 
ing essential  elements  of  personal  character  to 
that  Convention?  Moreover,  what  Bible 
scholar  would  concede  that  there  were  thirty 
Scriptural,  \ital.  cardinal  dogmas  represented 
there?  Any  searcher  sounding  deeply  and 
keenly  would  have  disclosed  thirty  different 
biases,  no  doubt,  but  not  thirty  sets  of  endowed, 
intellectual,  conscientious,  emancipated,  spirit- 
ual, affiliated  rciisoiiers. 

Another  illustration  in  this  regard  would 
seem  to  be  furnished  by  Dr.  lU'njamin  B.  W'ar- 
207 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

field.  He  writes  :  "Interfused  and  interpene- 
trated and  g-overned  by  the  one  God.  united  by 
one  baptism,  symbolizing  one  faith  to  the  one 
Lord,  called  in  one  calling,  by  the  one  Spirit, 
into  one  body :  here  we  have  the  Apostle's  con- 
ception of  the  Church's  unity  and  its  ground, 
a  unity  consistent  with  any  diversity  of  gifts — 
with  diversity  in  everything,  in  fact,  except  true 
Christianity. 

If  this  study  of  the  nature  and  relations  of 
the  conception  of  Christian  unity  as  it  lies  in 
the  Xew  Testament  has  any  validity,  we  can- 
not but  be  aided  hy  it  in  our  search  for  unity 
now.  It  is  clear,  for  instance,  that :  A\'e  are 
not  to  seek  it  in  the  inclusion  of  all  Christians 
in  one  organization  and  under  one  government. 
A  story  is  told  of  a  man  who,  wishing  a  swarm 
of  bees,  caught  every  bee  that  visited  his  flow- 
ers and  enclosed  them  together  in  a  lx)x,  only  to 
find  the  difference  between  an  aggregation  and 
a  hive.  We  cannot  produce  unity  by  building  a 
great  house  over  a  divided  family.  Different 
208 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


denominations  have  a  similar  right  to  exist  with 
separate  congregations,  and  may  be  justified  on 
Hke  grounds." 

Of  course  "thversity  in  everything  in  fact, 
except  true  Christianify yes.  and  organization 
accordingly.  Why  not  "the  inclusion  of  all 
Christians  in  one  organization  and  under  one 
government"  ?  Where  in  its  "validity"  does 
the  Xew  Testament  forbid  or  discourage  this? 
Evidently  Dr.  W'arfield  would  have  us  believe 
that  there  is  an  element  in  human  nature  such, 
that  when  men  are  brought  together  in  or- 
ganization as  Christians,  they  become  '"bees" 
and  mutually  sting  or  are  necessarily  idle  and 
worthless — an  "aggregation,"  while  if  they 
come  together  in  one  of  the  multitudinous  sec- 
tarian organizations,  they  are  harmonious,  lov- 
ing, cooperative  and  efficient — a  "hive !" 

Years  ago  in  Princeton  Seminary  there  were 
young  men  of  different  denominations — not 
only  Presbyterians,  but  Methodists,  Baptists, 
Congregationalists  and  Episcopalians.  In  the 
209 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


closest  daily  fellowship,  they  studied  the  truth, 
developed  in  spiritual  character,  and  put  on  the 
armor  of  a  future  ministry,  with  no  saving  ele- 
ment of  denominationalism  in  the  situation  at 
all.  Were  they  antag"oni>^tic  "hees,"  and  only 
an  "aggregation"  of  stinging  enmity? 

The  young  men  went  to  Xorthfield  and  to- 
gether prosecuted — excepting  ceremonial  rites 
— everything  religious,  before  Christ  and  with 
Christ  and  in  the  power  and  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit;  and  with  no  element  of  denomina- 
tionalism to  sanctify  and  correct  things  either. 
Were  they  in  fact  an  '"aggregation"  of  irrec- 
oncilable "bees"?  They  attended  V.  M.  C.  A. 
Conventions  occasionally  and  Y.  I\l.  C.  A. 
services  constantly;  with  no  denominationalism 
to  redeem,  counteract,  conserve.  Were  they 
"bees,"  "busy"  with  acrimony  and  animosities' 
■  Now  at  length  invited  to  Organized  Chris- 
tianity for  the  Ends  and  Means  of  Christianity, 
under  the  one  banner  of  Christ,  to  whom,  with 
whom,  while  they  seek  His  grace,  they  live — 

2IO 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


does  Dr.  W'arfield  imagine  that  thus  brought 
together,  even  though  bereft  of  denomination- 
ah'sm,  they  will  become  an  "aggregation"  of 
buzzing,  warring  "bees"  ? 

When  the  Corinthian  Christians  were  sum- 
moned to  quit  tlieir  sectarian  divisions  of 
"Paul"  and  "Apollos"  and  "Cephas"  and  unite, 
organize,  cooperate  under  Christ  the  "Head," 
were  they  invited  to  an  "aggregation"  and  a 
"bee"  battle? 

Justice  Brewer  says  "Denominations  exist, 
will  exist  and  ought  to  exist.''  They  do  exist — 
quite  too  true — but  whether  they  now  ought  to 
exist,  or  in  the  approaching  days  of  the  Coming 
of  the  Kingdom,  they  will  exist,  depends  upon 
whether  they  are  philosophical  and  Scriptural ! 
Are  they? 

One  thing  is  evident,  the  dififerent  Churches 
do  habitually  forego  and  surrender  the  "intel- 
ligent and  conscientious  convictions,"  in  creed, 
worship  and  government,  which  they  so  re- 
ligiously vaunt  before  others,  and  without, 

21  I 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


when  constrained  by  some  considerations  of 
advantage,  within. 

The  Bishops  oi  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  pre- 
senting- the  "Quadrilateral"  basis  of  Church 
Unity,  offered  to  give  up  everything  distinctive, 
but  their  "figment"  of  "apostolic  succession." 
The  Princeton  Seminary  professors  used  to  ad- 
vise their  graduates  to  freely  settle  in  Congre- 
gational Churches— thus  giving  up  the  whole 
matter  of  Church  Government,  in  order  that 
into  New  England  might  be  introduced  the  Au- 
gustinian  theology. 

In  a  sense,  the  Presbyterian  Church  foregoes 
all  its  denominational  specialties  and  conducts 
within  itself  ''Organized  Christianity,"  in  its 
splendid  Women's  work.  Having  as  Chris- 
tians, at  their  first  uniting  with  the  Church,  ac- 
cepted the  Bible  and  its  Theism  and  Heroism, 
its  Christian  women,  without  any  doctrinal  or 
ecclesiastical  pledge  whatever,  at  home  and 
abroad,  live  and  teach  and  preach  the  gospel 
with  magnificent  fidelity  and  success — like  Paul 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

— "preaching-  the  Kingdcmi  of  God  and  teach- 
ing tliose  things  which  concern  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  with  all  confidence,  no  man  forhidding." 

But  if  there  is  neither  Scripture  nor  intcUi- 
gence  in  the  denominational  pretence,  what  is 
the  determining  principle  \\  hich  obtains  for  and 
in  the  various  segregations?  There  is  none. 
Narrowing  now  our  iinestigalions  to  the  thir- 
t\'.  we  shall  see  that  the  denominational  motto 
is:  "Anything,  anywhere,  anyhow!" — any 
mere  notion  at  the  determining  station,  no  mat- 
ter w  hat  the  results  ! 

To  (juote  from  the  U'cstiiiiiistcr :  "Orthodoxy 
as  man  sees  it,  is  largely  in  matter  of  locality. 
We  k-now  three  churches  that  stand  side  by 
side  in  the  same  little  hamlet.  In  one  it  is 
orthodox  not  to  vote,  in  the  other  not  to  sing 
hymns,  and  in  tiie  other  to  fall  from  grace. 
They  are  all  made  up  of  good  people,  and  dwell 
in  perfect  uinty  except  on  Sundays." 

Twenty  years  ago,  before  the  most  urgent 
needs  in,  and  splendid  opportunities  for,  all 
213 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


sunny  but  yet  beclouded  Italy,  the  W'aldensian 
and  Free  Churches  furnished  this  suggestive 
record :  "The  question  of  union  between  the 
two  Churches  is  not  a  settled  one.  The  point 
of  disagreement  is  the  name:  the  one  would 
have  it  'The  Evangelical  Church  of  Italy.'  the 
other,  'The  Evangelical  W'aldensian  Church.'  " 
"I  fear  from  my  knowledge  of  the  parties  that 
practically  the  matter  for  the  present  is  ended," 
regretfully  writes  the  Rev.  John  R.  McDougall. 

\Ye  read  :  "A  good  many  negroes  of  Boston 
are  affiliating  with  a  new  sect  which  has  sprung 
up  there  recently.  The  society  teaches  baptism 
by  immersion,  the  drinking  of  water  instead  of 
wine  at  Communion,  the  taking  of  unleavened 
bread  for  sacrament,  the  washing  of  feet,  the 
saluting  of  members  with  a  kiss,  breathing  on 
the  head  to  impart  the  Holy  (jhost,  and  the 
keeping  of  Saturday  as  the  Sabbath,  instead  of 
Sunday.  The  sect  styles  itself  'the  Church  of 
the  Living  God'  and  'the  Saints  of  Christ.'  The 
minister  who  is  propagating  the  new  faith  an- 
214 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

nounces :  T  call  all  men  liars  w  ho  do  not  be- 
lieve as  we  do'  " — not  a  had  photograph  of 
denominationalism. 

But  for  very  weak  human  nature — very  pow- 
erful for  division,  on  the  premises  of  Christ — 
let  us  look  now  in  an  entirel}'  different  (|uarter, 
and  here  are  the  Soutliern  Churclies,  kept  in 
separation  decade  after  decade,  simply  hy  a 
venerable  hut  childish  grudge,  forty  x'ears  old. 
Oh.  yes — for  the  Presbyterians — we  know 
about  the  S];ring  resolutions,  and  the  Hodge 
protest,  and  the  secession,  and  the.  for  a  while, 
annual  Northern  resolntions.  and  the  rejected 
advances,  and  the  Johnson  "rider"  and  the  in- 
effectual Hamlin  resolutions.  W  e  also  know 
that  for  thirty  years  there  has  been  in  the  North 
no  feeling  or  expression  reflecting  at  all  upon 
the  Christian  Character  and  doctrinal  sound- 
ness of  the  South.  .Xnd  we  also  know  that  if 
the  two  ])arties  were  together  for  an  hour  as 
Christians,  and  one  gleam  of  the  eternal  reali- 
ties flashed  u])on  the  common  conscience,  and 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


one  glance  at  sin  and  salvation  taken  from 
heaven's  point  of  view,  and  one  flashlight  vision 
of  a  Christian's  emergencies  of  situation  and 
commission,  accorded,  and  one  "clear  call" 
from  the  other  world,  one  reiteration  from  the 
skies  of  the  imperative,  "Forgive  one  another, 
even  as  God  for  Christ's  sake  hath  forgiven 
you,"  there  would  be  on  the  spot  "one  fold" 
under  "one  Shepherd"  in  ten  minutes.  But  in 
fact  for  tlie  Church,  the  banner  inscription  of 
division,  still  lloats  on  the  Soutliern  breezes, 
"Anything,  anywhere,  anyhow." 

Not  so  for  the  world,  however.  Thus  writes 
Dr.  Henry  M.  Wharton  :  "It  is  not  pleasant 
to  be  reminded  of  any  disagreeable  circum- 
stances, and  yet  one  can  hardly  pass  unnoticed 
the  fact,  that  between  the  great  sections.  North 
and  South,  which  were  engaged  in  blooily  war 
a  few  years  ago,  the  onl)'  unreconcilctl  people 
are  the  Christians.  How  painful  it  is  to  read 
of  the  Nt)rthern  and  Southern  Baptists !  the 
Northern  and  Souiliern  Methodists!  the  North- 
216 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


ern  and  Southern  Presbyterians !  E\  en  the  old 
soldiers  who  fought  each  other  to  the  very 
death,  are  warm  and  cordial  friends,  having 
forever  buried  all  enmity  of  the  ])ast.  I  am 
an  ex-Confederate  soldier  myself,  and  yet  in 
the  last  few  years  have  made  no  less  than  three 
speeches  for  the  Grand  Anny  men  on  their 
Memorial  occasions,  and  could  not  have  been 
more  hospitably  entertained  by  my  own  com- 
rades of  the  South." 

Dr.  Talmage  after  enumerating  forty-three 
Protestant  denominations,  and  adding,  "and 
many  other  deno'niinations  more  in  number 
than  I  h;i\  e  mentioned,"  says :  "These  are 
more  or  less  absurdlx-  cut  u\:  into  a  great  ec- 
clesiastical hash,  with  enough  salt  nf  real  grace 
to  keep  it,  and  enough  pepper  of  biting  con- 
troversy to  sjjice  it.  but  nevertheless  hash. 
With  some  it  is  a  (juestion  of  robes;  with  some 
a  question  of  days;  with  some  a  question  about 
non-essentials  so  small  that  the  theologian  has 
to  get  out  his  dictionary  to  find  them." 
217 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Yes,  non-essentials  "small"  indeed — yet 
large  enough  to  inaugurate  and  perpetuate  to 
an  incredible  degree  "graceless  organization." 

To  quote  again  the  JVcstiiiiiistcr:  "A  doc- 
trine, the  belief  or  rejection  of  which  makes  one 
neither  better  nor  worse,  cannot  be  of  especial 
im]3ortance  in  the  sight  of  God.  And  yet 
Churches  di\  i(le  on  just  such  lines  as  these.  In 
a  world  where  millions  have  never  heard  of 
Christ,  vast  fortunes  are  expended  every  year 
for  no  purpose  than  to  perpetuate  graceless 
organization."  This  on  the  sacred  premises 
W'here  the  voice  of  New  Testament  truth  is  for- 
ever resounding,  "Nothing,  ever,  anywhere, 
anyhow%  that  interferes  with  or  does  not  con- 
tribute to,  the  headship  of  Christ  and  the  Holy 
Spirit's  operations  in  human  hearts  !" 

Again,  if  the  existing  denominations  are 
scientifically  founded  and  necessary,  then  there 
are  grounds  and  necessity  for  ten  times  more. 
An  interminalilc  catalogue  of  them  is  called  for 
— by  the  basi.s — the  rationale  of  wh.at  we  have. 
218 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

The  sectarian  apologist  says,  "Our  denomina- 
tions are  natural,  necessary,  inevitable."  All 
the  while,  however,  he  is  unconsciously  talking 
about  his  own,  and  to  excuse  his  own  self- 
gratification,  is  constrained  to  concede  the  same 
to  others.    How  many  others? 

According  to  Dr.  \\' rangemann,  there  are 
in  Frankfort  four,  and  in  Hesse-Darmstadt  five 
congregations  of  "Separate"  Lutherans,  hold- 
ing no  communion  with  each  other,  l)esides 
Lutherans  not  "Separate."  Why  not  forty  or 
fifty  as  well  as  four  or  five? 

Says  a  l^resbyterian  minister,  the  Rev. 
Robert  Johnston:  "We  are  anxious  above  all 
things  to  a\oid  in  the  new  provinces  that  over- 
lapping of  church  life  which  is  so  common  in 
the  other  districts.  For  example,  there  is  in 
the  Province  of  Quebec,  a  town  of  five  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  of  whom  four  thousand  five 
hundred  are  Roman  Catholics,  ministered  to  by 
one  church.  The  remaining  five  hundred  are 
219 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

served  by  five  different  denominations."  Why 
only  five? 

If  Baptists,  whose  specialty  is  baptism,  are 
necessar}'.  so  are  Communists  with  a  specialty 
in  the  Lord's  Supper,  as  much — ^and  so  on 
through  all  the  ordinances  and  rites.  There  is 
no  root  reason  in  the  world  why  there  should 
not  be  Calvanistic  Methodists,  Congregation- 
alists  and  Baptists,  in  ecclesiastical  separation 
from  Arminians  of  the  same  sects.  If  a  Pres- 
b}"terian  will  not  affiliate  with  a  Christian  who 
votes,  because  the  Bible  deprecates  '"the  King- 
doms of  this  world,"  there  is  no  reason  why 
he  should  not  separate  himself  from  a  Christian 
who  has  education  or  wealth,  because  the  Bible 
deprecates  the  wisdom  and  riches  of  this  world. 
There  is  just  as  much  Scriptural  ground  for 
public  prayers  from  Psalms  only  as  there  is  for 
public  praises  from  Psalms  only. 

If  in  worship  a  man  would  separate  himself 
in  favor  of  prescribed  prayers,  there  are  equal- 
ly valid  reasons  why  he  should  separate  himself 
220 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


in  favor  of  prescribed  sermons.  In  one  case 
the  minister  addresses  God  in  behalf  of  men; 
in  the  other  he  addresses  men  in  behalf  of  God. 
The  Old  School  Presbyterian  Church  once 
separated  from  the  New.  A  division  of  the 
Old  School  Church  itself  on  the  Premillenarian 
issue,  would  have  been  far  more  dignified  and 
philosophical. 

Dr.  Guthrie  tells  of  a  man  and  his  wife,  the 
only  survivors  of  various  splits  in  a  Baptist 
chapel.  "I  might,"  he  says,  "have  raised  a 
controversy  between  man  and  wife  and  split 
them."  No  doubt,  and  he  would  have  been 
correctly  denominational  if  he  had.  The  logic 
and  criteria  of  present  denominations  call  for 
scores  of  others  in  addition. 

But  if  the  present  denominational  diagram 
is  not  theoretically  scientific  in  either  its  for- 
mulations or  its  enumerations,  no  more  is  it 
practically  feasible. 

Visit  a  town  <jf  five  thousand  population. 
Its  "Daughter  of  Zion"  will  be  reeling  under  a 

221 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


load  of  six  denominational  Churches.  Bvit  if 
now  denominational  ism  be  essential  and  in- 
evitable, she  has  got  to  stagger  along  some- 
how under  the  burden  of  at  least  twenty-four 
more.  'A\"ell,  let  the  full  exploitation  of  de- 
nominational Christianit)'  be  reserved  for  the 
very  large  towns  that  can  accommodate  it." 
But  is  that  either  fair  or  Scriptural?  Is  the 
Christian  plan  of  "man}'  denominations  all 
united  by  a  common  devotion  to  a  single  Mas- 
ter, responding  to  the  different  wants  of  the 
human  soul,  and  making  known  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  God"  to  be  prosecuted  only  in  the 
very  largest  towns — especially  when  after  all, 
none  of  them  will  be  large  enough  and  even 
"the  world  itself  could  not  contain"  the  endless 
category  ? 

Suppose  that  during  the  session  of  the  Fed- 
eration Convention  delegates  from  a  large  town 
in  a  hitherto  forgotten  region,  hearing  that 
Christianity  was  necessarily  and  appropriately 
represented  in  denominationalism,  had  applied 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

to  tlie  Convention  as  such,  for  ministers  to 
come  and  organize  and  administer  Xew  Testa- 
ment Christianity.  Either  the  Convention  has 
got  to  send  thirty  men  or  none,  acknowledging 
that  denominationahsm  cannot  represent — can- 
not prosecute  Christianity,  v.hich  is  indeed  the 
deplorable  fact. 

Six  men  in  the  name  of  denominationahsm 
go  out  for  Christianity  to  Japan.  "What  is 
your  basis  of  organization  and  are  you  all 
here?"  the  astute  and  investigating  little  men 
will  ask.  "We  represent  ideal  Christianity; 
we  are  six  out  of  thirty  :  with  us  'many  denomi- 
nations all  united  by  a  common  dexotion  to  a 
single  Master,  respond  to  the  different  wants 
of  the  human  soul  and  thus  make  known  the 
manifold  wisdom  of  God.'  and  twenty-four 
more  are  due  to  arrive  and  ap])ly  at  any  time, 
only  we  crowded  on  a  little  in  advance  of  th.e 
others."  So  they  re|Micd,  and  when  they  could 
not  guarantee  that  if  they  were  admitted  and 
accommodated,  twenty-four  more  would  not 

22T, 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


immediately  appear,  the  "heatlien  in  his  l^hnd- 
ness"  (lechned  them  all,  and  said:  "You  made 
in  this  business  a  great  mistake  in  strategy. 
You  first  sent  over  your  New  Testament,  and 
we  already  know  the  Ends  and  Means  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  story  of  'Paul  and  Apollos  and 
Cephas,'  and  we  send  you  all  home  to  ponder 
the  New  Testament  question  of  the  apostle,  'Is 
Christ  divided  ?'  " 

Some  one  says,  "Japan  demurs  at  thirteen 
kinds  of  Presbyterians,  and  sixteen  kinds  of 
Methodists  and  many  Baptist  religions,  and 
says :  'First  decide  among  yourselves  which 
one  is  right — then  come  to  Japan.'  "    Even  so. 

A  most  suggestive  and  ominous  and  indeed 
critical  situation  is  disclosed  by  the  Student 
Volunteer  Conventions.  In  general  the  twenty- 
five  hundred  young  men,  representing  thirty 
denominations,  have  belonged  to  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  and  together  as  Chris- 
tians, at  exceedingly  close  quarters,  have  sought 
and  found  every  treasure  of  New  Testament 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

piety.  Soon  they  face  the  "field  wliich  is  the 
world'"  to  go  forth  as  missionaries.  If  now 
denominationalism  belongs  essentially  to  Chris- 
tianity, they  must  go  in  thirty  rival  divisions, 
from  thirty  home  societies,  to  establish  and 
maintain  thirty  separate  missions.  What  an 
astounding  spectacle  is  here  presented — twenty- 
five  hundred  educated  men  full  of  fiery  and  in- 
telligent and  heaven-inspired  enthusiasm  for 
the  heaven-appointed  Ends  of  Christianity! 
Not  only  from  their  Bibles  but  from  a  manifold 
experience  in  Young  Men's  Societies,  they  have 
learned  the  Means  and  how  to  employ  them. 
Now  at  the  momentous  crisis  of  their  glad 
career.  Church  leaders,  out  of  an  Egyptian 
iKMidage  to  what  they  are  used  to,  taken  captive 
for  and  by  their  religious  self-indulgence,  come 
forth  to  dictate — "You  must  go  forth  as  de- 
nominationalists !" 

Those  who  have  eyes  to  see  can  see,  tliat 
soon — thus  commissioned,   while  the  young 
225 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


men  will  not  go,  and  the  nations  will  not  receive 
them — God  will  not  send  them ! 

Furthermore,  denominations  are  objection- 
able. They  lack  Scriptural  and  rational  foun- 
dation, are  logically  numberless,  and  actually 
ridiculously  numerous.  The  propositions  upon 
which  they  rest  and  the  plans  which  they  pro- 
pose are  not  feasible,  and  th.ey  are  besides  dis- 
tinctly ol)jectional)le — and  this  on  the  domain 
of  always  protesting,  and  always  sufficient 
Christianity. 

In  the  first  place,  sectarianism  fails  in  ethics 
— in  Christian  altruism.  As  already  indicated 
in  such  a  convocation  as  the  Federation  Con- 
vention of  1905,  it  reaches  the  summit  of  its 
possibilities.  Here  at  the  best  it  can  do.  the 
noblest  it  can  show,  are  the  representatives  of 
thirty  denominations  all  ecjually  expressing  "a 
common  devotion  to  a  single  Master"  and  "the 
manifold  wisdom  of  God."  In  the  convention 
do  the  six  representatives  of  six  leading  de- 
nominations for  instance,  plan  then  and  there, 
226 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

and  afterward  and  elsewhere,  to  move  up  and 
make  room  for  the  remaining  twenty-four? 
Out  in  the  towns,  do  the  six  already  on  the 
ground  ever  come  together  to  see  if  somehow 
room  cannot  he  found  for  and  accorded  to  a 
seventh  or  eighth  or  ninth — not  to  speak  of 
the  twenty-one  others? 

To  quote  the  Re\'.  John  Woodruff  Conklin : 
"You  and  I  know  of  a  town  of  sixteen  hundred 
people.  If  any  one  of  us  ministers,  presum- 
ahly  fairly  sound  in  mind  and  body,  were  called 
to  the  pastorate  of  a  church  there  with  the 
privilege  of  dictating  the  lunuhcr  of  ministers 
and  churches  to  share  with  ours  the  religious 
work  of  that  community,  salary  corresponding 
to  size  of  parish,  what  dictum  would  he  forth- 
coming? No  one  of  us  would  ask  more  than 
one  other  pastor  and  church,  and  nearly  every 
one  would  prefer  the  field  alone. 

There  is  another  w  ell-known  town  of  twenty- 
eight  hundred  people.  No  one  of  us  called  to 
minister  in  it,  endowed  with  autocratic  power, 
227 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Avould  tolerate  more  than  one  other  pastor  and 
church.    Yet  we  count  eight  churches  there. 

Another  town  of  five  thousand  people  con- 
tains thirteen  churches,  twelve  of  which  had 
pastors  a  year  ago.  No  one  of  us,  if  called  to 
labor  there,  would  ask  more  than  three  pas- 
toral colaborers. 

Remember  that  you  and  I  would  rather 
have  more  than  less  than  a  thousand  people  of 
all  ages  in  our  several  parishes,  if  allowed  free 
scope." 

Denominationally,  ministers  and  others  are 
possibly  friendly  and  tolerate  each  other,  but 
who  ever  heard  of  one — on  a  Christian  Golden 
Rule  basis — giving  up  his  field  or  his  salary 
or  his  members  to  another  denomination  when 
it  was  weak,  while  he  was  strong,  because  it 
equally  with  him  belonged  to  the  grand  denomi- 
national system  which  "exists  and  will  exist 
and  ought  to  exist,"  a  legitimate  sharer  in  the 
"divine  unity  in  variety"  ?  Nothing  ever,  any- 
228 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

where  does  a  denominationalisl  as  such,  accord 
to  another,  unless  he  cannot  help  it. 

Again  denominationalism  is  objectionable  in 
its  relation  to  practical  results.  Herein  the 
'"'very  elect"  are  deceived  and  thinkers  led  fatal- 
ly astray,  as  intimated  in  a  former  discussion 
— by  "appearance"  which  is  not  of  "heart." 

So  a  speaker  at  a  Mission  Convention  :  "The 
essential  unity  of  the  Christian  Church  is  seen 
in  the  midst  of  manifold  outward  variety. 
From  the  domains  of  nature  and  of  society  may 
be  drawn  many  illustrations  of  this  point.  To 
a  child  all  the  stars  may  look  alike,  but  astron- 
omers know  well  that  one  star  differs  from 
another  star  in  glory.  Look  at  the  human  face 
divine.  In  that,  as  in  every  department,  God 
is  always  original ;  He  never  makes  a  copy. 
If  the  Church  is  God's  workmanship  we  must 
look  for  the  same  characteristics  in  it  that  we 
find  elsewhere.  The  gardener  with  his  shears 
can  trim  dead  trees  to  make  them  all  look  ex- 
actly alike.  Let  the  trees  be  alive  and  he  will 
229 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


seek  in  vain  to  preserve  their  uniformity.  The 
day  alter  to-morrow  the  hkeness  w  ill  he  gone." 
Referring  to  his  ten  children,  the  speaker  said 
he  "rejoiced  in  the  diversity  of  form  and  char- 
acter among  them ;  the  one  suppHed  what  the 
other  lacked — so  with  the  Church  of  Christ." 

All  this  is  perfectly  true,  hut  it  is  picture- 
gallery  talk,  and  not  of  heart  and  life.  If  the 
children  of  God  and  Christ's  Church  are  here 
simply  on  exhihition — let  there  he  a  thousand- 
fold "variety"  in  their  '"unity."  But  in  fact 
they  are,  on  the  field  of  experience  and  action, 
supremely  straitened  for  accomplishment. 

As  long  as  the  ten  children  are  viewed  in  the 
light  of  an  attractive  display,  let  their  indi- 
vidual peculiarities  be  encouraged  and  admired. 
But  suppose  the  specialty  of  each  takes  the  form 
of  a  perverse  and  wilful  judgment,  and  ignor- 
ing the  facts  and  laws  of  family  and  hygienic 
authority,  each  eats  and  drinks  in  personal  self- 
indulgence,  until  there  stand  hefore  you  ten 
pale,  emaciated,  haggard,  pitiable  invalids. 
230 


ORGANIZED  CHRTSTIAXITY 

What  now  of  the  "beautiful  variety  in  essential 
unity"? 

Imagine  again  the  ten  on  a  river  Ijank ;  a 
neighbor's  child  has  fallen  in  and  is  even  now 
struggling  in  the  waters.  If  he  is  saved,  the 
ten  must  sa\'C  him — and  they  can  without  a 
peradventure  save  him  if  in  unity  and  coopera- 
tion they  conform  to  the  facts  and  laws  of 
rescue.  But  he  drowns,  and  drowns  because  of 
the  ten,  each  asserts  himself,  and  jostles  and 
confuses  and  counteracts  the  others.  What  of 
the  charming  "\aricty  in  unity"  now? 

Editors  and  orators  are  forever  saying : 
"Differing  dendminatinns,  which  exist  and  will 
exist  and  ought  to  exist,  are  like  a  mighty 
army  with  its  varying  di\isions  of  regiments 
or  brigades,  or  like  the  dissimilar  states  in  and 
for  one  nation."  Imaginary  rxhihilioiis  again 
— what  for  experience  and  action?  This:  A 
panorama  of  war  with  the  national  rai)ital  in- 
vested and  state  troops  summoned  to  the  rescue. 
Here  they  are  approaching  the  scene  of  con- 
-'3' 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

flict,  marshallefl  denominationally.  Thirty  di- 
visions are  here  possibly  in  a  "Federation," 
which,  to  be  sure,  keeps  them  from  fighting 
each  other ;  but  pitiably  deficient  in  military 
discipline  and  development,  with  no  primary 
relation  to  the  commander-in-chief,  in  either 
subordinate  or  patriotic  passion,  no  zealous  en- 
thusiasm for  the  cause,  no  principles  of  effect- 
ive unity,  no  economical  or  scientific  coopera- 
tion, no  fraternity  of  feeling  or  plan,  and  not 
a  little  rivalry  and  jealousy  in  every  direction. 
As  the  result,  the  city  falls  and  the  enemy 
reigns,  or  if  not  this,  the  enemy  perennially 
threatens  and  the  city  trembles  and  the  cause 
of  patriotism  languishes  as  the  nation  fails  of 
its  own  for  prosperity  or  appropriate  conquest. 

"He  pitied  the  ruffled  plumage  and  forgot 
the  dying  bird,"  said  the  critics  of  Edmund 
Burke,  and  denominationalists,  fascinated  by 
appearances  and  arguing  from  exhibitit)ns, 
complacently  rejoice  in  the  unruffled  "plumage" 
232 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

of  denominationalism  and  forget  the  "dying 
bird"  of  Christianity.    ?Iow  long? 

Singing  poetic  hdlabies  about  beautiful  stars 
and  garden  beds  and  states  and  a  "mighty 
army,"  and  "the  great  plan  of  the  universe, 
unity  in  variety."  denominationalists  forget  the 
conditions  of  character  and  action — of  life, 
and  their  own  delinquencies  in  respect  of  it. 

Then  sectarianism  is  objectionable  in  that  it 
so  ignobly  fails,  and  fails  while  at  home  and 
abroad,  thwarting  and  obstructing  Christianity. 
It  fails  in  numerical  organization.  Not  to  mul- 
tiply such  instances  as  that  of  the  "Oklahoma 
preacher  who  details  his  struggles  in  a  town  of 
six  hundred  people  and  six  churches" — we  have 
150,000  Protestant  ministers  for  68,000,000 
Protestant  population,  "l^abies  and  all" — and 
one  minister  for  every  450  of  population.  Now 
let  1.350  of  population,  an  exceedingly  small 
charge,  be  assigned  to  each  minister,  and  you 
have  100.000  ministers  free  for  appointments 
233 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


to  Foreign  Missions,  and  millions  of  money 
saved,  by  which  to  support  them. 

To  quote  again  Rev.  John  \\\  Conklin  :  "Just 
with  our  unneeded  crumbs  w  e  could  supply  the 
missions  beyond  their  fondest  dreams.  The 
money  saved  in  tlie  closing  of  the  parasitic 
churches  here  would  go  far  toward  supporting 
the  transferred  ministers.  Looked  at  from  this 
point  of  view,  the  matter  assumes  colossal  im- 
portance. The  \  ision  of  waste  on  one  side  and 
emptiness  on  the  other  is  stunning.  One  can- 
not picture  or  characterize  it  fairly  without 
laying  lu'njself  open  to  the  charge  of  fanati- 
cism or  lunacy." 

Moreover,  sectarianism  fails  to  save.  Wlih 
always  and  everywhere  an  exceedingly  small 
percentage  of  increase,  in  recent  years  some  of 
our  largest  detu)minations  have  actually  de- 
creased. Says  Dr.  Rossiter :  "Men  give  heed 
to  every  other  consideration  under  the  sun,  be- 
fore they  will  gi\  c  heed  to  obligations  that  will 
be  best  for  them  and  their  family  religiously. 
234 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

The  Gospel  has  lost  grip  upon  tlie  conscience 
and  the  loyalty  of  men,  and  what  is  the 
reason  ? 

Some  say  that  the  division  of  ChristiTinity 
into  sects,  denominations,  little  protesting 
cliques,  is  having  its  inevitahle  consecjuences : 
(i)  Confusion  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the 
hearers  as  to  which  one  is  true.  (2)  Rejec- 
ti')n  of  them  all,  because  each  of  them  seems 
faulty.  Where  an  audience  hears  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men  proclaituing  a  Gospel,  each  one 
having  something  peculiar  to  itself  which  it  af- 
firms is  the  simon-pure  and  only  real  Gospel, 
with  some  words  of  criticism  for  all  the  other 
one  hundred  and  forty-nine  gospels,  there  nuist 
result  confusion  of  mind,  and  then  apathy. 
And  that  is  the  condition  we  are  in  in  tliis 
country.  We  have  one  hundred  and  fifty  de- 
nominations of  Christians,  and  each  claim>  its 
own  peculiar  gospel  as  the  truth fulest  truth, 
and  tliat  the  others  arc  wanting  in  some  es- 
235 


ORG  A  N IZED  CHRISTIANITY 


sential  particular.  And  there  is  widespread 
confusion  of  mind  and  a  general  apathy." 

It  likewise  fails  to  give.  Here  in  hrief  is  a 
statement  of  "how  Americans  spend  their 
money":  Chewing-gum,  $11,000,000;  milli- 
nery, $80,000,000;  confectionery,  $178,000.- 
000  ;  jc\\  elry  and  plate,  $700,000,000  :  tobacco, 
$750,000,000;  liquor,  $1,243,000,000;  church 
work  at  home,  $250,000,000;  foreign  missions, 
$7,500,000!  It  would  be  highly  edifying, 
under  this  schedule,  to  push  the  in{[uiry :  How 
proportionately  as  to  these  various  objects,  do 
American  Christians  spend  their  money? 

To  quote  J.  Campbell  \\'hite  :  "If  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  America  could  be  brought  to 
give  one  postage  stamp  per  capita  a  week  to 
foreign  missions,  it  would  give  $10,000,000 
in  a  year.  If  it  would  give  one  carfare  a  week, 
$50,000,000.  If  it  would  give  one  dish  of  ice- 
cream a  week,  $100,000,000.  If  the  equivalent 
of  one  hour's  work — not  at  the  prices  which 
you  get  for  your  labor,  but  at  the  rate  of  the 
236 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

most  unskilled  labor  in  the  country — $150,- 
000,000." 

Furthermore,  denominationalism  is  flagrant- 
ly obstructive.  An  editorial  of  the  February 
9,  1899  Jiidc[^cndcut  elociuently  urged  Christian 
Unity  f(ir  "our  new  possessions,"  as  follows: 
"Shall  it  l;e  the  Church  of  Christ,  or  shall  it 
be  a  medley  of  rival,  perhaps  e\en  a  wrangle  of 
conflicting  sects?  That  is  the  question  now  be- 
fore the  Churches;  what  shall  lie  their  answer? 
We  do  not  ask  what  the  various  missionary 
societies  or  secretaries  want,  but.  rather,  what 
the  Churches  want. 

What  shall  the  Christian  Church  do  in 
I'orto  l-Jico?  Of  course,  it  must  occupy  the 
held.  leather  .Sherman  says,  and  (|uite  truly, 
that  Torto  Rico  is  a  Catholic  island  without 
religion.  This  being  so  nearly  true,  the  field  is 
open  for  religious  work  by  Americans,  both 
Catholic  and  Protestant.  The  two  cannot  work 
together,  but  cannot  the  Protestants  work  as 
237 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

one  body  ?  If  they  will,  they  can ;  and  then  they 
can  do  great  things. 

Why  should  our  distinctive  denominational 
designations  be  perpetuated  in  Porto  Rico  ?  The 
Island  is  a  natural  paradise ;  why  not  let  it  be- 
come an  ecclesiastical  paradise?  Why  cannot 
our  benevolent  societies  be  all  satisfied  to  es- 
tablish simple  Churches  of  Christ,  and  call  them 
by  nothing  else  than  the  simple  name  of  their 
Master?  Such  churches  we  do  not  doubt  that 
the  Porto  Ricans  would  welcome. 

Is  this  too  much  to  ask?  Is  it  anything 
more  than  was  done  by  Peter  and  Paul,  when 
they  organized  their  first  churches?  Let  the 
churches  use  a  presbytery  or  not  as  they  please ; 
let  them  baptise  by  immersion  or  by  sprinkling; 
let  them  have  elders  or  bishops,  as  they  please ; 
let  them  follow  their  own  freedom  or  strictures, 
as  they  please;  but  let  them  all  be  nothing  other 
or  more  than  a  Church  of  Christ  and  let  them 
all  fellowship  each  other  in  the  old  Christian 
way  of  generous  freedom  guaranteed  bv  the 
-^38 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

first  Council  of  Jerusalem.  In  Japan  six  de- 
nominations united  to  form  one;  why  cannot 
we  all  agree  that  in  Porto  Rico  we  will  be  one 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  ?" 

In  fact,  however,  the  "Name  which  is  above 
every  name"  was  slighted  and  God's  decree  for 
the  "preeminence  in  all  things"  forgotten  and 
the  Churches  started  downward  and  not  up- 
ward, astray  and  not  in  the  path — the  ecclesias- 
tical path  of  which  God  has  said,  "This  is  the 
way,  walk  ye  in  it" — and  so  we  read  in  the 
issue  of  April  6th  the  following: 

"We  had  hoped  that  the  scramlile  of  the  de- 
nominations in  Porto  Rico  might  be  avoided, 
but  this  is  impossible.  W'e  wished — but  it  was 
really  beyond  hope — that  there  might  be  one 
Church  of  Christ  in  Porto  Rico,  embracing  all 
Christians  wlio  do  not  belong  to  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  a  Church  not  Presbyterian  or 
Congregational  or  Baptist  or  Methodist,  but 
simply  Christian.  But  this  may  not  be.  Gen- 
eral Henry,  the  Military  Governor  of  Porto 
239 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Rico,  wanted  it,  and  the  Cliristian  officers  and 
civilians  in  San  Juan  wanted  it,  and  they  or- 
ganized union  ser\  ices  in  the  theater,  hut  they 
did  not  organize  a  churcli  and  hid  the  sectarians 
keep  off.  Now  the  sectarians  have  come  and 
nothing  can  now  save  the  field  from  a  sectarian 
Christianity. 

'Our  churches  demand  to  be  represented,' 
they  all  say.  *We  can  make  an  appeal  for  our 
own  sort.'  they  would  say,  'not  for  any  union 
work' ;  or  'Our  charter  does  not  allow  us  to 
aid  any  but  our  own  denominational  churches' ; 
'and,  besides,'  they  would  say.  'this  denomina- 
tional rivalry  is  not  a  had  thing ;  it  assures 
more  being  done  ;  and  it  looks  worse  at  a  dis- 
tance than  it  really  is.  The  missionaries  will 
not  quarrel,  for  they  are  Christians,  and  they 
will  have  their  conferences  together,  and  to 
the  native  Porto  Ricans  the  difference  will  not 
be  discernible.'  But  the  pity  of  it,  the  pity  of 
it,  that  our  missionary  societies  cannot  for  a 
while  sink  their  denominational  ambition !" 
240 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Yes,  the  pity  of  it  and  the  prospect  of  it,  too! 
For  ne\er  in  the  history  of  Church  activity  at 
home  or  abroad  liave  sectarians  proclaimed, 
"This  denominational  rivalry  is  not  a  bad 
thing,"  and  proceeded  accordingly,  that  Chris- 
tianity and  the  Christ  of  it.  have  not  been  in 
fact  subordinated  to  the  notions  and  institutions 
of  men,  and  the  little  things  of  sectarianism, 
urged  triumphantly  up  among  or  over  the 
mighty  things  of  grace  and  truth  and  God,  with 
the  assured  anticipation  of  "spiritual  decline 
and  death" ! 

The  melancholy  story  is  told  in  the  experi- 
ences of  another  field,  reported  a  year  after 
in  the  same  journal :  "Almit  forty  years  ago 
three  societies — representing  two  nationalities 
— began  work  in  a  large  Oriental  city.  For 
over  half  this  period  the  converts  knew  no  de- 
nominational name,  and  were  known  as  'be- 
lievers'; 'ism'  they  never  heard  of.  Union 
meetings  were  frcf|uently  held,  alzi^ays  once  a 
month  in  addition  to  the  week  of  prayer.  Thus 
241 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

it  was  for  over  twenty  years.  Then  a  fonrth 
society  entered  the  field.  It  had  a  name — a 
name  of  Httle  or  no  significance,  as  it  appeared 
transposed  by  sound  into  the  native  tongue.  It 
had  little  effect  in  the  way  of  differentiation, 
for  the  missionaries  were  good  men  and  for- 
got their  ism.  A  number  of  years  later,  follow- 
ing a  series  of  union  evangelistic  meetings,  a 
union  C.  E.  society  was  formed.  Its  meetings 
were  a  blessing  to  all,  and  doubtless  they  would 
have  continued  to  the  present  time,  with  in- 
creasing benefit,  but  for  an  incident.  A  digni- 
tary of  the  society  last  in  the  field  made  a  visit 
of  inspection.  His  dictum  tli\ided  the  C.  E. 
society  and  compelled  his  branch  to  assume  a 
new  name.  Such  dictum  was  not  in  accord 
with  the  \'iews  of  his  brethren  then  in  charge 
of  the  work.  The  result  was  spiritual  decline 
and  death." 

But  will  now  this  uncertain,  this  anomalous 
situation  continue?    Not  long.    Some  one  has 
truly  said,  "Tenacity  of  denomiiiationalism  is 
242 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


generally  in  proportion  as  the  distinctive  fea- 
ture is  not  found  in  the  Bible."  Yes,  and  is 
not  tributary  to  Christ  and  is  significant  of  dis- 
solution withal. 

Striking  the  keynote  of  denominationalism, 
and  tolling  its  deatli  knell  at  the  same  moment, 
one  of  our  denominational  editors,  referring  to 
the  Scotch  Highlanders,  in  their  madness  of 
secession,  remarks :  "It  is  pleasing  to  see  any 
manifestation  of  strong  adherence  to  conscien- 
tious convictions :  steadfast  adherence  to  what 
one  believes  is  the  most  respectable  trait  in 
human  nature."  This  sounds  harmless — 
musical  indeed  in  its  familiar  plausibility,  but 
in  fact  it  entirely  forbids  applied  Christianity 
and  is  in  effect  fatal  to  Church  life  and  at  the 
same  time  defiant  of  God.  "Strong  adherence 
to  conscientious  conviction ;  steadfast  adher- 
ence to  what  one  believes"  will  embitter  any 
family,  terminate  any  friendship,  dissolve  any 
business  partnership,  break  up  any  secular  or- 
ganization in  the  land.  It  will  moreover  dis- 
243 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

mpt  any  single  church,  endlessly  divide  any 
denomination  and  hopelessly  estrange  any 
actual  or  possible  association  of  believers.  It 
does,  however,  represent  denominationalism.  in- 
dicate its  madness,  and  forecast  its  overthrow. 
It  has  within  itself  the  germs  of  dissolution, 
but  moreover  it  is  proscribed,  as  well  as  mori- 
bund. 

When  at  any  time,  in  anything  in  which  He 
is  divinely  interested.  God  gets  all  things  ready 
.  in  the  department  of  supply,  and  admits  to 
close  relations  with  it  the  eager  a])plications  of 
demand,  results — and  if  need  be,  radical  re- 
sults— always  follow.  When  in  the  feeding  of 
the  five  thousand,  it  was  evening,  and  the  tide 
of  Christ's  divine  "compassion  on  the  multi- 
tude" had  risen  to  its  flood,  and  the  faint  and 
hungry  throng,  already  reclining  in  ranks  by 
hundreds  and  by  fifties  on  the  green  grass,  were 
eagerly  awaiting  him,  even  though  the  twelve 
each  with  his  "variety"  which  belongs  to 
"unity"  had  announced  a  dilatory  and  self- 
244 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 

gratifying  and  ol)Structive  program  of  admin- 
istration, it  would  have  made  not  the  sHghtest 
difference,  nor  kept  the  hungry  people  waiting 
for  one  moment — much  less  all  through  the 
night. 

It  takes  no  specially  endowed  prophet  to  see 
that  at  this  twentieth  century  juncture,  the  Mas- 
ter in  His  compassion  is  at  hand  and  in  au- 
thority too,  that  men.  great  multitudes  of  men 
"besides  women  and  children" — are  hungry, 
and  desperately  hungry,  and  pathetically  ap- 
pealing, that  full  supplies  and  perfected  facili- 
ties are  available — and  to  predict  that  this  is 
the  day  of  God's  redemption  and  not  man's  self- 
indulgence.  The  demand  for  Christianity  is 
measureless  and  supremely  urgent,  the  suffi- 
ciency of  Christianity  is  conceded,  the  organ- 
ization of  Christianity  is  indispensable,  and  tht 
realities  and  laws  of  the  Kingdom  tell  the  story 
of  a  new  era. 


245 


CHAPTER  VI 


In  this  closing  chapter  of  Organized  Chris- 
tianity, in  its  uniqne  specialties,  we  may  ask : 
Is  it  feasible,  desirable,  demanded,  and  under 
what  principles  and  particulars  of  administra- 
tion is  it  to  be  prosecuted  ? 

This  writer  lives  in  a  rapidly  growing 
town,  with  which  he  is  thoroughly  acquainted. 
It  has  five  thousand  inhabitants  with  six 
Churches.  Imagine  some  mighty  magic  proc- 
ess by  which  all  its  public  institutions  are 
suddenly  blotted  out — with  people  and  homes 
and  business  all  untouched. 

Very  soon  under  national  and  state  laws, 
with  self-control  of  indi\  iduals,  oliscrving  busi- 
ness princi])les  and  in\()king  the  light  of  ex- 
perience and  common  sense,  the  jjcoplc  meet, 
organize  and  reconstruct.  With  strictest 
246 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


economy  and  up-to-date  enterprise  tliey  study 
ends  and  means. 

The  result  is  one  Post  Office,  one  Police 
Court,  one  Railroad  station,  one  Fire  depart- 
ment, one  Public  School,  established  and  in  due 
time  successfully  run  by  men  having  radical 
and  endless  diversities  of  character  and  tastes 
— Iiut  actuated  b}-  one  dominant  purpose. 

Now  for  the  churches  and  the  sixteen  hun- 
dred Christians.  They  are  about  to  recon- 
struct on  the  old  denominational  basis,  when  a 
supcrnatiu"al  magic  arrests  them  ;  they  suddenly 
remember  that  they  are  subject  to  the  law  of 
Christ,  "the  I  lead  of  all  things  to  the  Church," 
and  now  tlicy  ])roceed  obediently  and  not  in 
personal  scl  f-gratification,  mindful  of  business 
principles,  atid  the  facts  and  laws  of  human 
need  and  luiman  naltux';  and  with  one  accord, 
organize  one  Christi.'ui  Churcli,  holding  them- 
selves strictly  to  the  four  Means  ff)r  the  four 
Ends  of  New  Testament  Christianity.  They 
have  one  thoroughly  furnished  church  l)uild- 
247 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


ing,  centrally  located.  In  due  time  they  have 
one  well-supported  pastor  of  the  Moody-Storrs 
type,  spiritual,  scholarly,  executive,  right  with 
God,  sympathetic  with  men.  mighty  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  apt  for  all  the  ends  of  social 
life  and  uplift  in  the  community,  and  withal 
on  Mondays  wont  to  go  down  the  bay.  and  to 
the  ocean,  with  as  much  fun  as  he  can  well  get 
out  of  it  for  himself  and  others. 

The  Christians  themselves  are.  as  Christians 
all  ought'  to  be,  filled  with  passion  for  Christ 
and  souls  of  men,  and  with  the  graces  of  the 
Spirit,  intelligent  and  obedient  students  of  the 
Bible.  Of  course  they  radically  differ  mentally 
and  temperamentally,  just  as  business  men  do, 
but.  just  as  business  men  do,  cordially  unite 
and  cooperate  for  common  and  transcendent 
interests.  They  have  personah'ty  and  self-as- 
sertion— but  humility  and  brotherly  love  as 
well.  They  have  one  Sabbath  School  with 
various  outreachings.  They  have  one  Chris- 
tian Endeavor  Society.  They  have  ordinances 
248 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


with  the  deepest  spirituality,  but  in  forms  as 
people  prefer  them.  They  escape  countless 
sources  of  division,  distraction  and  contro- 
versy. ]Moreo\-er,  five  ministers  and  at  least 
five  thousand  dollars  ];er  annum  are  released 
for  other  fields  where  they  are  infinitely  needed. 
Now  all  the  sectarian  apologists  upon  earth 
can  be  confidently,  challenged  to  visit  this  scene 
and,  taking  knowledge  most  exhaustively  of 
former  conditions,  to  detect  a  single  point  at 
which  denominationalism  or  Federation  could 
have  given  the  least  ach'antage,  or  from  the 
standpoint  of  Xcw  Testament  Christianity,  to 
13oint  out  a  single  xalid  objection  to  the  new 
arrangement,  or  indeed  any  objection  in  any 
respect  sa\"e  only  in  the  matter  of  biases  re- 
buked or  (lisapi)ointment  and  chagrin  in  step- 
ping down  and  f)ut  from  offices. 

Here  from  Ilomc  fields  come  varying  testi- 
monials of  the  undoubted   feasibility  oi  Or- 
ganized Christianity.    A  most  intelligent  au- 
thority from  Maine  is  here:    "This  new  type  is 
249 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

seen  by  many  men  in  all  denominations.  It  is 
a  broad  and  comprehensive  type,  which  lays 
emphasis  upon  the  essentials  of  faith  and  per- 
mits sectarian  peculiarities  to  drop  into  the 
background.  Doctrine  is  more  and  more  giv- 
ing place  to  life;  dogma  yields  daily  to  Christ- 
like charity  and  love.  About  the  Person  of 
Christ  the  Protestant  Evangelical  Church  is 
rallying  and  finding  the  basis  of  union  there. 
Literature  confesses  this.  But  without  resort 
to  literature,  he  who  can  attend  religious  gath- 
erings of  denominations,  and  of  Christian 
workers  from  many  den(^minations,  finds  the 
emjjhasis  on  Christ,  and  the  theological  per- 
spective becoming  more  and  more  truly 
Christo-centric,  and  the  type  of  Christian  en- 
deavor becoming  Christian.  This  tendency, 
however,  the  country  church  has  not  as  yet  ex- 
tensively realized.  The  average  country  church, 
in  theology  and  consequent  practical  Christian 
living,  is  where  it  was  a  half  century  ago.  De- 
nominational leaders  are  in  good  part  respon- 
250 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

sible  for  this.  They  have  cultivated  denomina- 
tional esprit  de  corps  by  reverting  to  past 
glories,  by  calling  up  conditions  no  longer  ex- 
isting, by  stimulating  the  historical  imagina- 
tion, so  desirable  in  the  student  of  history,  but 
so  pernicious  in  the  Christian  who  must  do 
his  part  to-day  in  making  local  Christian  his- 
tory.   .    .  . 

But  these  subjects,  if  treated  in  the  old  way, 
do  not  present  Christ  as  He  is.  Doctrines 
are  needed,  but  the  doctrines  of  the  broadest 
outlook,  tlie  truest  insight,  the  richest  experi- 
ence, and  the  fullest  conception  of  Christianity, 
that  God  in  His  providence  has  been  teaching 
the  world  in  the  school  of  these  centuries  past. 
The  Christo-centric,  and  the  Christo-livable 
type  of  Christianity  must  be  set  up  in  the 
country  town." 

Another  from  Kansas:  "I  came  here  three 
years  ago  and  found  four  churches  practically 
inoperative,  though  their  guns  were  still  point- 
ed at  each  other.  They  liad  services  i-emi-occa- 
251 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

sionally.  but  no  resident  minister.  So  I — 
though  twenty-five  years  a  Baptist  minister — 
persuaded  tliem  to  confederate  without  regard 
to  creed  or  ritual,  simply  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  a  Gospel  service  and  to  save  the 
people  from  heathenism.  So  we  formed  a 
Christian  association,  called  'The  People's 
Church.'  The  article  of  membership  was  life 
and  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ.  .  .  .  For  three 
years  I  have  ministered  on  this  basis  without 
a  ripple  of  dissention,  and  the  town,  though  a 
difficult  and  godless  mining  town,  has  liberally 
supported  the  move." 

Still  another  from  the  vicinity  of  New  York  : 
"Our  membership  represents  a  dozen  difYerent 
denominations.  We  receive  members  by  let- 
ter from  other  churches,  and  have  dismissed 
them  by  letter  to  other  denominations.  The 
validity  of  a  letter  from  our  church  has  never 
once  been  questioned.  Most  Christians  who  have 
come  among  us  have  gladly  joined  us.  Uni- 
tarians will  not  join  nor  Roman  Catholics,  al- 
252 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


though  they  attend  our  services  and  gladly  co- 
operate in  all  our  benevoleut  w  ork.  Methodists 
and  Presbyterians  both  believe  in  the  divine 
election  to  serve,  and  want  it  preached.  Bap- 
tists freely  accord  the  privilege  of  infant  bap- 
tism, when  parents  desire  it ;  they  admit  that 
the  rite  is  \ery  impressive.  Some  Episcopalians 
like  our  serx  ice  better  than  their  own.  .  .  . 
Into  our  pulpit,  or  social  meetings,  denomina- 
tional shibboleths  are  never  admitted.  It  might 
be  thought  that  such  absence  of  doctrinal  teach- 
ing would  produce  a  flabby  sort  of  Christian 
character,  but  we  have  found  that  the  life  and 
the  truth  in  Jesus  Christ  call  us  to  the  most 
exacting  and  strenuous  spiritual  discipline." 

Years  ago.  a  Methodist  declared  with  en- 
thusiasm: "If  we  had  a  hundred  Moodys  and 
Sankeys  in  this  country,  all  the  orthodox 
Protestant  sects  would  unite  within  ten  years. 
W'e  would  ha\e  an  entirely  new  system  of  or- 
ganization and  work.  Instead  of  our  numerous 
little  churches,  half  sustained  and  half-filled  on 
253 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Sundays,  we  should  have  vast  buildings,  rival- 
ing the  old  cathedrals  of  Europe  in  size,  and 
crowded  with  worshipers.  Each  of  these  great 
temples  would  be  the  center  of  the  religious 
life  of  a  large  district,  and  for  parish  work  we 
would  ha\  e  numerous  mission  chapels,  contain- 
ing a  library,  reading-room,  prayer-meeting 
room,  and  the  offices  of  the  working  charitable 
societies." 

Manifestly  feasible  at  home.  Organized 
Christianity  is  still  more  evidently  practicable 
abroad,  where  there  is  deeper  hunger  for  it. 
To  illustrate  from  the  truly  Christian  opera- 
tions of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion, says  Rev.  E.  \V.  Anderson:  "During  1901 
the  International  Committee  had  twenty-two 
representatives,  with  headquarters  in  fifteen 
(lifYerent  centers  in  India,  Ceylon,  China,  Japan, 
Korea  and  South  America.  During  1902  some 
ten  new  men  were  added  to  the  force  of  secre- 
taries, and  several  new  centers  have  been 
opened  up.  Special  attention  is  given  to  de- 
-'54 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


veloping  the  work  among  the  students  and 
educated  natives,  and  the  influence  of  the  work 
is  great.  Evangelistic  meetings  are  held,  and 
Bible  classes  for  inquirers  and  also  for  Chris- 
tians are  conducted,  while  the  secretaries  have 
all  the  personal  interviews  they  can  attend  to. 
All  this  work  is  carried  on  with  the  hearty  sup- 
port and  cooperation  of  the  missionary  force. 
No  new  field  has  been  opened  up  without  the 
urgent  request  of  the  foreign  missionaries  and 
the  influential  natives  interested,  and  the  limit 
to  which  this  work  may  be  extended  and  devel- 
oped is  bounded,  not  by  the  need  nor  the  op- 
portunity, but  by  the  number  of  properly 
trained  leaders  and  the  home  cooperation  neces- 
sary to  support  their  efifort." 

With  very  slight  superficial  adjustments,  and 
a  new  survey  of  the  field,  and  new  reading  ot 
the  Great  Commission  and  due  emancipation 
from  the  sectarianism  of  the  home  "Boards," 
the  "missionary  force"  could  not  only  heartily 
sun])ort  and  cooperate  in  this  work,  but  for- 
255 


O  RGA  N  ]  ZED  C  H  R I  ST  I A  N  IT  Y 


saking  schism  and  divisions,  in  g-lorious  unity 
embark  anew  under  its  cross-lit  banners. 

Nobody  exjiects  that  Primitive  Christianity 
can  be  restored,  and  Christ,  not  only  in  our 
hymns  but  our  hearts  and  organizations 
"crowned  Lord  of  all,"  in  a  day,  or  without  a 
costly,  though  reasonable  breaking  up  of  the 
old  order,  but  Organized  Christianity  is  to-day 
undoubtedly  feasible. 

Ten  \ears  ago  a  Princeton  Professor  (with 
plentiful  recent  echoes  from  the  same  (juarter) 
remarked:  "We  cannot  expect  Evangelical 
Christians  to  be  willing  to  unite  on  the  basis 
of  the  iiiiiiiiiniin  of  truth  held  by  them  in  com- 
mon." Why  not?  What  they  intelligently 
hold  in  common  is  a  minimum  that  includes 
the  maximum  of  aims  and  agencies  of  New 
Testament  piety,  and  ])reclu<les  only  the  self- 
indulgence  in  j)repossessions,  which  learned  but 
biased  men  insist  upon  enshrining  at  the  cen- 
ters, but  which,  although  expressed  in  ambi- 
tious and  academic  terms,  are  in  fact  insignif- 
256 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


leant  in  practical  claims,  and  are  to  be  rele- 
gated at  once  and  forever  to  the  domain  of 
private  opinion. 

\\'hat  a  book  reviewer  says  of  Sabatier's 
doubtful  half  truths  is  undoubtedly  true  of  Or- 
ganized Christianity  :  "It  furnishes  the  ground 
on  which  the  unity  of  Christendom  becomes 
possible,  not  by  attenuating  the  differences 
which  now  divide  the  various  l)ranches  of  the 
Christian  Church,  but  by  raising  the  whole 
question  to  a  plane,  ujjon  which  these  questions 
lose  their  significance." 

Truly  says  the  Westminster,  of  Philadelphia  : 
"Not  by  modifications  in  ecclesiastical  milli- 
nery, nor  by  anxious  modifications  of  doctrine, 
nor  by  asking  how  much  each  may  surrender, 
but  by  possession  of  the  purpose  of  Christ 
shall  the  Church  become  one.  Then  in  accord- 
ance with  its  deep  unity  of  purpose,  it  shall 
clothe  itself  in  ritual,  creed  and  polity  express- 
ive  of  its  faith." 

"The  only  way  in  which  American  people 
257 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

have  not  shown  a  genius  for  organization," 
says  President  Woodrow  Wilson,  "is  tliat  they 
have  not  shown  a  genius  for  simphfication." 
This  may  he  true  in  the  reahii  of  scholarship, 
but  it  can  scarcely  be  said  of  the  American  in 
the  activities  of  business  life,  and  it  need  not 
be  at  all  true  in  the  activities  of  piety.  In  New 
Testament  days  differing  Christians  organized 
in  and  for  the  "simplicity  that  is  in  Christ"  and 
the  twentieth  century  is  the  time,  and  America 
the  place  for  them  to  do  it  again — to  give  in- 
deed Christianity  at  last  a  fair  trial.  "I  don't 
know,  sir.  it  has  never  been  tried,"  replied 
Wendell  Phillips,  when  asked,  "Is  Christianity 
a  failure?" 

New  Testament  Christianity  is  feasible — 
and  "now  is  the  accepted  time"  to  try  it. 

Again,  Organized  Christianity  is  not  only 
generally  desirable  but  cogently  demanded — 
alike  by  the  imperativeness  of  Clod  and  the  ever 
increasing  exigencies  of  men.  Dr.  Josiah 
Strong,  as  long  ag(j  as  1893.  warned  us  that 
258 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

times  and  people  were  radically  changing,  and 
that  we  had  got  to  change  with  them  and  for 
them.  He  says :  "So  general  a  tendency  to- 
ward the  centralization  of  population,  of  politi- 
cal power,  of  capital  and  of  production,  mani- 
fested in  ways  so  various,  can  indicate  noth- 
ing less  than  a  great  movement  toward  a  closer 
organization  of  society,  a  new  development  of 
civilization";  and  quotes  as  follows:  "If  any- 
thing has  loeen  made  certain  by  the  economic 
revolution  of  the  last  twenty-five  years,  it  is 
that  society  cannot  much  longer  get  on  upon 
the  old  libertarian,  competitive,  go-as-you- 
please  system,  to  which  so  many  sensible  per- 
sons seem  addicted.  The  population  of  the 
great  nations  is  becoming  too  condensed  for 
that."  Again  :  "If  is  felt  by  every  student  and 
every  statesman,  that  some  movement,  vast  and 
momentous,  though  indefinite,  is  passing  like 
a  great  wave  over  the  civilized  world.  It  is 
idle  to  refuse  to  admit  the  fact  that  modern 
civilization  is  in  a  transition  state.  .  .  .  There 
-'59 


ORGAXIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

are  a  thousand  evidences  that  the  present  state 
of  things  is  drawing  to  a  close,  and  that  some 
new  develo])ment  of  socia'l  organization  is  at 
hand."  Once  more:  "Everywhere,  tlie  old 
order  is  changing  and  giving  place  unto  the 
new.  The  human  race  is  now  at  one  of  the 
crucial  [jeriods  in  its  history,  when  the  foun- 
tains of  the  great  deep  are  hroken  up,  and  the 
flood  of  change  suhmerges  all  the  old-estab- 
lished institutions  and  conventions,  in  the  midst 
of  which  preceding  generations  have  lived  and 
died." 

Constitutional  indolence,  conservatism  and 
self-complacency  of  rulers  in  nations  and 
churches,  are  such,  that  revolutionary  tenden- 
cies without,  have  usually  appealed  in  vain  for 
new  and  appropriate  measures  of  and  for  re- 
form, at  headtiuarters,  until  appalling  disasters 
and  losses  have  been  precii^itated  upon  all  par- 
tics — disasters  and  losses  which  a  wise  fidelity 
to  facts  and  principles  would  surely  have  pre- 
vented. The  Church  at  home  and  abroad  is 
260 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


confronted  by  unix'ersal,  deep-seaterl  and  por- 
tentous revolution  in  tlie  tliouglit,  sentiments, 
purposes  and  organizations  of  -nen,  and  the  one 
demand  of  all  the  world,  is  for  the  Christianity 
of  the  Redeeming  Christ,  and  this,  according 
to  the  love  and  law  of  the  Redeeming-  Christ! 

And  is  the  Church  ready,  c(|uipped,  watch- 
ing? Hear  Archdeacon  l'\arrar :  "Our  i)res- 
ent  methods  will  not  reach  them :  to  our  elabo- 
rate theologies,  and  our  routine  ceremonies, 
our  professional  fineries,  they  have  nothing  to 
say;  for  rubrics  and  milhncry  and  stereotyped 
scr\  iccs,  they  care  no  more  than  they  do  for  the 
idle  w  ind  :  tlicy  want  a  broader,  simpler,  larger, 
truer,  manlier,  less  conxx'ntiunal,  less  corrupt, 
less  fourth-century  gospel :  they  want  the  es- 
sential gospel ;  they  want  Christ. 

New  times  want  new  methods  and  new 
men;  and  if  we  do  not  adojit  new  methods,  and 
fuid  new  men  w  ho  really  arc  men,  we  shall  die 
of  our  impotent  respectability. 

Churches  need  nuHiy  resurrections,  many 
261 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Pentecosts.  An  unprogressi\-e  is  a  dying 
church ;  a  retrogressix'e  church  is  a  dead  church. 
The  efiforts  of  sucli  churches  are  but  the  spas- 
modic semblance  of  activity;  the  ceremonies  of 
such  churches  are  but  as  spangles  on  their 
funeral  pall.  .  .  .  The  deliverance  will  come 
in  God's  good  time;  but  it  will  not  come  from 
the  popular  phrases  or  the  dominant  machin- 
ery. It  will  only  come  when  among  all  the 
soft,  bland  tones  which  fill  our  ears,  God  gives 
us  once  more  some  prophet's  mighty  voice." 

Here  is  an  editorial  comment  which  is  just 
as  cogently  applicable  to  the  United  States  as 
it  is  to  Great  Britain:  "Rev.  Dr.  Alex.  INIac- 
laren,  of  Manchester,  England,  greatest  of  liv- 
ing preachers,  is  reported  as  saying  that  he 
confesses  that  his  heart  sometimes  fails  him 
when  he  thinks  of  the  present  aspects  and  pros- 
pects of  Christianity  in  Great  Britain.  The 
great  wealth,  the  loosened  bonds  of  Christian 
faith,  the  neglect  of  the  Sabbath,  the  growing 
senseless  luxury,  the  godlessness  of  all  classes 
262 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

of  society  in  this  day.  from  tlie  highest  to  the 
lowest,  are  enough  to  break  tlie  heart  of  work- 
ers. He  could  not  but  read  in  the  social  life 
of  England,  in  the  jjublic  action  of  the  coun- 
try, in  the  corruption  of  the  municipalities,  in 
the  growing  intemperance  of  the  people,  in  the 
manifestly  increasing  impatience  of  the  press, 
in  the  leaders  of  opinion,  who  were  ready  to 
shake  off  the  last  fragments  of  Christianity, 
and  who  in  many  cases  were  talking  rubbish 
and  nonsense  about  the  superior  claims  of 
Buddhism,  Hinduism,  and  he  knew  not  what 
'ism' — he  could  not  but  see  in  all  these  things, 
a  call  to  Christian  people  to  be  ashamed  of  their 
quarrelings  and  envyings,  and  to  go  forward 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  and  to  close  their  ranks 
against  the  foe. 

Everything  that  Dr.  Maclaren  says  is  en- 
titled to  a  hearing.  How  solcnui  the  testimony 
(jf  this  man  of  such  advanced  years,  who,  in 
his  fifty  years'  ministry  has  never  said  or  writ- 
ten anything  that  needs  to  be  recalled !  And 
263 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITV 


what  a  trumpet  peal  to  the  Church,  calhng-  on 
ah  disciples  to  forget  insignificant  differences, 
in  view  of  their  magnificent  l>asis  of  agreement 
on  vital  truths,  and  th.e  singular  unity  and 
solidarity  of  a  malignant  foe!" 

And  is  the  Church  exhihiting  hecoming  vigi- 
lance and  fidelity  at  the  foreign  outposts?  Look 
at  this  single  picture  of  one  of  multitudes — 
drawn  by  Robert  E.  Lewis,  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association :  "Close  observation  of 
the  work  of  the  American  Board  in  China  con- 
vinces me  that  somebody  has  acted  with  no  less 
than  awful  neglect  of  the  Lord's  work.  The 
support  of  the  work  has  fallen  off,  the  number 
of  workers  at  great  centers  has  decreased,  the 
largeness  of  the  ripe  harvest  has  overwhelmed 
the  small  band  of  workers.  At  Eoochow,  the 
force  has  l^een  so  small  and  the  work  so  great 
that  in  the  midst  of  taxing  language-study  one 
missionary  is  forced  to  take  charge  of  and 
superintend  the  following  work:  (i)  He  is 
president  of  a  theological  seminary,  with 
264 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


twenty-four  students,  and  must  direct  the  teach- 
ing as  well  as  do  much  of  it — all  in  Chinese — 
for  the  most  pressing  need  of  the  mission  is  for 
trained  Chinese  workers.  (2)  There  are  nine 
native  churches  in  the  city  which  he  alone 
must  supervise,  and  whose  difficulties  and  prob- 
lems he  must  help  the  native  pastors  to  solve. 
(3)  There  are  four  chapels,  not  yet  organized 
as  churches,  which  he  must  provide  for.  There 
is  no  one  else  to  do  it.  (4)  There  are  twelve 
day  schools  in  the  city  under  his  care.  There  is 
a  Chinese  teacher  for  each,  but  can  the  schools 
be  left  without  supervision?  Not  unless  they 
are  abandoned. 

Nor  is  this  all.  In  the  neighboring  coun- 
try there  are  some  thirty  villages,  in  each  of 
which  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred  per- 
sons have  gi\  en  up  their  idols,  and  have  asked 
the  mission  to  send  to  each  a  native  pastor. 
But  there  is  no  money  to  send  a  single  man. 
Within  nine  miles  of  this  theological  seminary, 
there  are  twentv  points  where  the  people  have 
265 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


already  built  chapels,  and  are  waiting  for  pas- 
tors, but  not  a  single  man  can  be  sent.  God 
only  knows  what  will  become  of  these  villages, 
but  it  is  clear  that  the  last  state  of  them  may 
be  worse  than  the  first. 

When  one  faces  such  overwhelming  oppor- 
tunities, such  pressure  of  work,  and  such  an  in- 
difference on  the  part  of  Aiuerican  Christians, 
that  the  work  is  brought  to  this  pass,  he  is  led 
to  wonder  what  the  end  will  be.  Three  per- 
sons will  be  sent  into  that  mission  this  year, 
but  where  twenty  are  actually  needed,  the  pres- 
sure will  not  be  relieved.  Whose  is  this  crimi- 
nal neglect?'' 

The  present  demand  is  supremely  urgent  be- 
cause with  the  ever-rising  tide  of  intellectual, 
social,  political,  moral  agitation,  the  former  de- 
mands have  not  been  met,  and  the  present 
cumulative  twentieth  century  application,  we 
may  be  sure,  is  for  an  unincumbered  Cliris- 
tianity.  Denominationalism  has  failed  and  will 
fail,  and  from  its  relation  to  laws  and  facts 
266 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


alike,  must  fail.  Federation,  too,  in  the  mo- 
mentous crisis  of  sin  and  redemption,  must  and 
will  fail.    Its  confession  of  faith  is:    "Lord,  I 

will  follow  Thee,  but  suffer  me  first  "  Its 

profession  of  consecration  is  :  "I  ought  to  sur- 
render all,  but  I  will  keep  back  part  of  the 
price." 

Rev.  H.  A.  Bridgeman  describes  it.  and 
united  Cliurches  of  New  Zealand  repudiate  it. 
Says  Mr.  Bridgeman :  "Alxive  all,  Porto  Rico 
should  furnish  a  shining  illustration  of  har- 
mony and  cooperation  between  different  Chris- 
tian bodies.  Three  years  ago,  when  work  was 
beginning  there,  we  heard  a  good  deal  about 
conferences  between  the  different  Boards  in 
New  York,  and  of  an  allotment  of  different 
sections  of  the  island  to  different  denomina- 
tions. How  are  the  compacts  then  made  being 
fulfilled?  What  degree  of  fellowship  and  co- 
operation is  there  to-day  between  the  thirteen 
members  of  our  .\nicrican  Missionary  Associa- 
tion mission,  the  twcntN-one  Presbyterian,  the 
267 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


ten  Baptists,  the  five  Episcopalians,  and  be- 
tween all  of  these  Christian  workers  and  the 
United  States  Commissioner  of  Education,  and 
his  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  teachers?" 

An  Independent  editorial  remarks  signifi- 
cantly :  ''The  biologists  suggest  to  us  that  sud- 
den changes  in  environment  are  likely  to  orig- 
inate new  species.  It  was  some  great  con- 
vulsion that  separated  the  geological  periods, 
with  their  diverse  fauna  and  flora.  When  one 
great  cycle  of  animals  and  plants  was  destroyed 
by  the  upheaval  of  some  mountain  chain,  the 
few  survivors  produced  a  diflferent  progeny 
fitted  for  the  new  conditions."  It  then  adds 
of  the  New  Zealanders :  "Can  we  imagine  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly  and  the  Aletho- 
dist  General  Conference  and  the  Congrega- 
tional National  Council  here  agreeing  to  unite 
into  a  single  body?  Yet  that  is  what  these  de- 
nominations, and  others,  expect  to  do  in  New 
Zealand.  A  deputation  from  the  Presbjrterian 
General  Assembly  visited  the  ]\Iethodist  General 
268 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


Conference,  and  proposed  union.  To  be  sure, 
said  their  speaker,  we  have  different  creeds,  one 
Calvinistic,  the  other  Arminian,  but  both  are 
true  and  we  will  make  a  new  creed.  This 
proposition  was  received  enthusiastically,  and 
when  a  resolution  was  introduced  recognizing 
the  fading  of  sectarian  differences,  and  appoint- 
ing committees  to  confer  on  a  plan  of  federa- 
tion, the  word  was  changed  to  iiiiioii,  and  che 
resolution  unanimously  adopted." 

Anywhere  Christian  union  is  feasible  if  it  be 
Clirisiiaii,  and  everywhere  the  voices  of  Heaven 
and  earth  are  heard,  calling  for  Christianity 
that  is  unqualified  and  unencumbered — theXew 
Testament  Christianity  of  Christ  and  the 
apostles  and  the  early  Church ! 

Christianity  is  to-day  feasible,  demanded, 
sufficient  and  alone  sufficient ! 

But  according  to  what  established  principles 
and  with  what  practical  prescriptions  are  we 
to  proceed  ?  It  has  been  suggestively  said  that 
"The  mountains  will  show  you  the  valleys, 
269 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

but  the  valleys  will  not  show  you  the  moun- 
tains." And  it  is  doubtless  true  that  the  val- 
leys of  denominationalism  will  not  interpret 
the  mountains  of  Christianity,  while  on  the 
other  hand  it  is  certain  that  the  mountains  of 
Christianity  will  most  illuminatingly  interpret 
the  denominations.  And  in  these  days  of  more 
or  less  blind  bondage  to  denominationalism, 
the  hope  of  the  Church  lies  in  rising  in  due 
emancipation  as  speedily  as  possible,  to  the 
heights  of  Christ  and  the  apostles,  and  so  for- 
mulating creeds  and  plans  for  appropriate  en- 
terprise. Being  of  "one  accord"  in  this  exalted 
situation,  Pentecostal  inspirations  will  make 
"all  things"  ours,  whether  of  ends  or  means. 

Organizing  Christianity,  shall  we  be  like  the 
Italian  Christians,  embarrassed  for  a  name? 
In  fact  almost  au}-  name  will  answer  so  long 
as  it  surely  honors  the  Transcendent  Name — 
The  Church  of  God,  The  Clutrch  of  the  New 
Testoiiieiif,  The  Nezo  Teslaiiieiit  Christian  As- 
270 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


sociation,  The  Christian  Association,  might 
answer. 

Then  for  Creed.  Creed  makuig,  the  old 
"hie  labor,  hoc  opus  est,"  of  our  sectarian  fore- 
fathers, is  quite  an  easy  matter  in  these  days. 
The  last  Congregational  creed  is  a  good  one, 
Scriptural  and  Evangelical.  Such  is  also  the 
admirable  catechism  of  1898,  unanimously 
adopted  by  representatives  of  Wesleyan  Metho- 
dists, Baptists,  Primitive  ]\Iethodists.  Presby- 
terians, Methodist  Xew  Connection,  Bible 
Christians,  and  United  Methodist  Free  Church, 
in  England  and  reported  in  full  in  the  Indc- 
pctident  of  February  9,  1899.  Then  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  and  Union 
Churches  furnish  ready  to  our  hands  Christo- 
centric  creeds. 

Here  is  the  Westminster's  contribution: 
First:    That  Jesus  is  the  divine  and  living 
Lord. 

Second  :  That  He  came  down  from  Heaven 
and  died  in  atonement  for  our  sins. 

271 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Third  :  That  the  Bil:ile  is  the  inspired  \\'or(l 
of  God,  "the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and 
practice." 

Fourth  :  That  ever}^  Christian  is  saved  to 
serve,  and  is  res])onsible  for  his  opportunities 
to  influence  others. 

Fifth:  That  there  is  no  might  nor  power 
but  1]y  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God. 

Polity,  too,  which  so  worried  and  divided  our 
controversial  ancestors,  is  for  us  quite  a  sim- 
ple matter.  As  Sohm  has  clearly  shown,  in  this 
respect,  the  New  Testament  lea\'es  us — under 
the  superintendence  of  the  Holy  Spirit — quite 
at  liberty  for  the  pursuit  of  spiritual  ends  In- 
business  methods.  In  this  the  history  and  ex- 
perience of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation instruct  us — as  do  also  the  "Children 
of  this  world,"  "in  their  generation  wiser  than 
the  children  of  light."  Our  ecclesiastical  fore- 
fathers could  have  saved  themselves  a  world 
of  vexatious  debates  if  in  a  teachable  spirit 
they  had  watched  a  thousand  stocKholders  elect 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

a  president  and  six  directors,  and  then  leave  to 
them  the  details  of  ])ractical  control. 

One  special  item  of  regulation  will  speedily 
crowd  itself  in  for  adoption:  "No  minister 
dependent  upon  his  salary  shall  ever  be  engaged 
for  less  than  a  thousand  dollars  a  year."  This, 
to  be  sure,  ought  to  be  (juite  comfortably 
adopted  when  it  is  recalled  that  Dr.  Josiah 
Strong  says  that  "the  hundred  richest  men  in 
the  United  States,  who  ha\e  the  greatest  in- 
fluence in  the  financial  world,  arc  almost  with- 
out exception,  orthodox  church  members." 

Then  Organized  Christianity  must  be  duly 
protected  from  ignorance.  Its  motto  should  be  : 
"Anything  l;ut  callowness  of  mind  and  crude- 
ness  of  intellectuality — except  leanness  of  soul." 
Dr.  Schaufiler  once  remarked  of  the  Sunday 
School :  "It  is  strong  in  the  heart  and  weak 
in  the  head."  If  it  were  so  it  were  a  grievous 
fault,  and  a  fault  still  more  grievous,  if  detected 
in  the  pulpit,  especially  since  if  there  one  be 
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ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


"weak  in  the  head"  he  is  apt  to  be  soft  "in  the 
heart." 

The  demand  of  an  enhghtened  and  critical 
age  is  for  a  correspondingly  enlightened  and 
intellectually  powerful  ministry.  Sometimes 
under  exceptional  conditions,  God  graciously 
em]:)loys  for  evidently  special  reasons,  an  un- 
educated man  for  glorious  work,  hut  that  is 
no  more  proof  that  as  a  rule,  the  ministers  are 
not  to  he  intellectually  furnished  and  master- 
ful, than  his  occasional  employment  of  a  bed- 
ridden invalid,  more  than  others,  to  edify  and 
uplift  a  neighborhood,  proves  that  religious 
workers  are  not  to  walk  about  in  health. 

The  law  of  God,  and  the  ever-growing  intelli- 
gence of  this  generation,  alike  call  for  thinkers 
in  the  pulpit  and  the  parsonage,  and  while  God 
can  work  by  an  unfortunately  weak  man.  lie 
will  not  work  by  a  presumptuous  and  unneces- 
sarily weak  man.  Dr.  Norman  Macleod  said 
that  no  doubt  a  sharp  (luestioner  could  corner 
him  nil  the  habit,  hut  none  the  less  he  studied 
274 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

and  thought  as  if  everything  depended  on  him, 
while  he  prayed  and  trusted  as  if  everything 
depended  on  God.  And  this  is  the  rule  for 
every  minister :  to  call  on  God  as  importunate- 
ly as  possible,  and  to  call  on  himself  as  impera- 
tively as  possible,  with  abundant  mental 
supplies  within  to  call  upon.  It  is  as  if  the 
head  druggist  kept  strictly  in  his  own  hands 
the  secret  elixir,  which  at  last  gave  vital  ef- 
ficacy to  the  mixture,  and  yet  required  his 
subordinate  clerks  to  prepare  the  mixture  with 
the  greatest  pains  and  the  most  scientific  cor- 
rectness. God  sometimes  accepts  the  things 
that  are  "small."  He  always  refuses  the  things 
that  are  cheap. 

President  \\'oodrow  Wilson  says  truly : 
"Pedagogically  you  cannot  impart  appreciation 
for  the  song  of  a  bird,  the  glory  of  a  landscape 
or  the  subtle  shade  of  an  idiom. 

If  ever  an  age  stood  in  sore  need  of  those 
who  see  the  invisible,  this  does;  if  ever  an  age 
needed  statesmanship  of  the  mind,  this  age 
275 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


needs  it.  Let  there  l;e  an  army  of  workers, 
with  their  gaze  concentrated  on  their  own  httle 
tasks,  with  no  one  to  dream  dreams  for  them, 
none  to  see  visions,  no  generals  of  the  mind  to 
organize  our  great  combinations  of  eflfort.  and 
it  will  not  be  long  before  we  stumble  upon  dis- 
aster. I  don't  mean  to  tell  you  that  information 
is  not  a  part  of  education,  but  I  do  say  that 
brute  information — mere  gross  bodies  of  fact 
— does  not  educate.  Information,  so  far  from 
accelerating  the  powers  of  tb.e  mind,  may  e\  en 
clog  them;  unless  it  disciplines  it  impedes." 

The  principle  here  indicated  has  a  special  ap- 
plication to  theological  students  and  ministers. 
They  must  needs  ha\  e  knowledge  and  a  plenty 
of  it :  but  that  is  not  all.  They  must  be  edu- 
cated to  intuitions  of  moral  and  spiritual  reali- 
ties. It  is  not  enough  that  they  know  the  tech- 
nical answers  to  theological  questions,  and  have 
library-minds  with  an  orderly  arrangement  of 
orthodox  truths,  all  correctly  labelled,  and  each 
duly  numliered  on  its  own  shelf  or  in  its  own 
276 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

row.  but  with  personal  penetration  and  grasp 
and  appropriation  and  subjective  thrill,  they 
must  "see  the  invisible" — the  invisible  beings 
and  realities  of  earth,  as  well  as  by  spiritual 
perceptions,  the  invisible  beings  and  realities  of 
heaven.  They  want  information  much,  but 
education  more,  and  correspondingly  not  only 
capacity  to  report,  but  conceptions  to  express 
and  more,  a  cultivated  ripened  intellectuality 
which  is  uniquely  fruitful — an  intellectuality 
of  facts,  still  more  of  visions,  and  above  all. 
of  inventions.  This  leads  us  higher  — not 
only  to  the  realm  of  truth  but  of  grace. 

"Pedagogically  you  cannot  impart  apprecia- 
tion for  the  song  of  a  l)ird,  th.e  glory  of  a  land- 
scape or  the  subtle  shade  of  an  idiom" — you 
can.  however,  do  these  things  by  educational 
inspiration.  But  the  visions,  the  insight  and 
the  corresponding  inventions,  which  belong  to 
the  Bible  student,  cannot  be  imparted  either 
pedagogically  or  by  erlucational  inspiration  by 
any  man.  The  beauty  of  holiness,  the  senti- 
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ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


ments  and  activities  of  heaven,  the  love,  the 
voice  of  God.  the  lieavenly  intercessions,  the 
earthward  manifestations  of  Christ,  the  upris- 
ing and  reception  of  prayer  or  praise,  the  down- 
ward movements  of  parental  and  redemption 
love,  can  be  made  constrainingly  real  to  us,  only 
by  the  Spirit  of  Holiness,  who,  it  is  most  im- 
portant to  remember  and  emphasize,  will  not 
duly  visit  us  oiT^any  careless  or  postponed  in- 
vitations. 

The  Churches  and  the  young  Christian  think- 
ers of  this  day,  need  beyond  all  calculation,  a 
Theological  Seminary  of  the  deepest,  broadest, 
brightest,  most  abounding,  up-to-date  scholar- 
ship, yet  with  large  spaces  and  choice  hours 
l)reempted  for  God ;  on  the  premises  large  room 
set  apart  as  "the  secret  place  of  the  Most  High" 
— and  sacredly  reser\'ed  time  and  assured  tran- 
quillity for  the  messages  and  inspirations  that 
come  straight  down.  The  Chaplain  in  fact 
much  in  evidence. 

There  is  no  call  for  Christian  students,  in 
278 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


the  Seminary  or  out  of  it.  to  be  fussily  and 
obtrusively  "pious"  or  to  indulge  fanaticism 
or  parade  solemnity,  but  the  department  of 
spiritual  development  is  of  supreme  importance 
and.  strange  as  it  may  seem,  in  a  Theological 
Seminary,  specially  liable  to  neglect.  In  addi- 
tion to  the  odd  fact  of  Christian  experience, 
that  it  is  far  easier  to  think  cl'osely  or  do  vigor- 
ously than  to  pray  devoutly,  and  our  natural 
pride  of  intellect,  there  is  an  added  local  pride 
— a  complacent  self-righteousness  of  theological 
orthodoxy  to  be  vigilantly  and  resolutely 
guarded  against.  \^ariously  expressed,  the  de- 
lusive thought  is,  "The  truth,  oitr  truth,  covers 
the  field  of  experience,  affords  light,  insures 
power."  while  all  the  time,  all  jiarties  are  liable 
to  the  melancholy  combination  which  Macauley 
deprecated  as  so  disastrous:  "A  union  of  high 
intelligence  with  low  desires." 

Not  many  months  since,  this  writer  heard 
the    President   of   a  well-known  Theological 
Seminary  deli\  er  the  closing  address  to  a  large 
279 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


c^radiiating"  class,  w  ith  aljoimcling'  wit  and  clas- 
sical jM'oprictv,  Init  with  no  more  recognition 
of,  or  allusion  to,  spiritual  realities,  than  if  they 
had  been  graduating-  physicians,  lawyers  or  lec- 
turers. 

Organized  Christianity  needs  a  Theological 
Seminary  of  its  own  even  if  there  is  a  super- 
fluity of  sectarian  ones  already,  and  the  reasons 
are  patent.  As  already  mentioned  in  these 
pages,  Christian  young  men  in  schools  and 
colleges  have  tasted  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity and  its  happy  unities.  At  least  twenty- 
five  hundred  of  them  are  virtually  committed 
to  the  declarations  of  "The  Student  Recruits 
for  the  Christian  I\[inistry"  of  California. 
These  say:  "We  stand  for:  (i)  A  united 
Church.  We  believe  that  churches  divided 
against  each  other  cannot  stand.  W  c  declare 
ourselves  against  the  competitive  missionary 
work  anywhere.  We  agree  to  work  for  church 
harmony  and  unity  of  spirit.  (2)  Missionary 
aggressiveness.  Believing  in  the  last  command 
280 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Ijroadest  world-wide 
sense,  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  organization  to 
stand  for  and  promote  an  intelHgent  study  and 
a  wide-awake,  acti\e  interest  in  missions.  (3) 
An  up-to-date  niinistr_\-.  A\'e  seek  preparation 
to  meet  and  satisfy  hotli  the  fundamental,  and 
the  new  and  special  needs  of  the  church  in  our 
own  generation." 

The  movement  is  described  as  follows  :  "At 
the  recent  College  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Conference,  held 
at  Pacific  Grove,  California,  over  one-fourth  of 
the  men  ]M"esent,  representing  every  college  in 
the  State,  bound  themselves  together  in  a  union, 
declared  their  'purpose  to  become  ministers  of 
Jesus  Christ,'  and  to  'aggressively  promote  the 
consideration  of  the  ministry  as  a  vocation  for 
Christian  youn^  men."  This  moxcmcnt  lias 
taken  the  name  of  'The  .Student  Recruits  for 
the  CIn'istian  Ministry,'  and  those  who  formed 
the  tmion,  have  returned  to  their  sixteen  differ- 
ent institutions  to  further  its  purposes  and  gain 
recruits.'' 

281 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANIT\ 

The  fact  is  the  Christian  young  men  of  the 
nation  know  from  experience  the  happy  feasi- 
biHty  of  Org-anized  Christianity  and  when  de- 
nominational leaders  from  thirty  (perhaps  forty 
or  fifty)  denominations  say  to  them ;  "You 
must  go  separately  into  our  thirty  denomina- 
tional Seminaries,  and  go  forth  in  thirty  divi- 
sions, to  set  up  thirty  rival  missions  abroad  or, 
on  an  average  salary  of  seven  hundred  dollars, 
struggle  along  in  rivalries  at  home — in  com- 
petition with  thirty  of  your  brethren,"  the 
young  men  decline,  anil  will  more  and  more  de- 
cline and  turning  aside  from  the  regular  min- 
istry altogether,  go  out  for  Christ  and  the  mis- 
sions of  Christ,  if  they  go  at  all,  as  Association 
men  rather  than  ministers.  The  candidates  for 
our  denominational  Seminaries  are  "alarmingly 
decreasing"  they  tell  us,  and  until  Seminary 
instruction  on  a  New  Testament  and  not  sec- 
tarian basis,  can  be  offered  them,  they  are  likely 
to  decline,  and  likely,  moreover,  to  be  endorsed 
of  God  and  hea\  en  in  doing  it. 

282 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

The  Christianity  of  the  twentieth  century 
needs  a  Seminary,  thoroughly  endowed  with 
twentieth  century  hberahty,  for  students  ad- 
mitted only  after  most  intelligent  acquaintance 
with  them,  a  Seminary,  with  a  four  years' 
course,  which  shall  be  consecrated  to  the  busi- 
ness of  preparing  men  physically,  mentally, 
spiritually,  to  be  preachers  and  leaders! — a 
four  years'  rugged,  exhilarating,  triumphant 
climb  up  to  the  enchanted  region  of  exact  align- 
ment between  the  Pastoral  and  Redeeming 
Christ  and  His  lost  ones  found,  and  His  lost 
ones  to  be  found — in  ignorance,  perplexity,  suf- 
fering, sin.  living  and  dying — to  be  found  I — 
a  Seminary  with  a  distinctive  aim  to  constrain 
young  men  ever  more  and  more,  for  four  years 
to  a  vital,  filial  intimacy  with  (lod,  and  a  cor- 
dial understanding — a  working  understanding 
with  (]od,  and  at  the  same  time,  to  a  Christ- 
like  sympathy  and  an  apostolic  aptitude  for 
men,  a  Seminary  whose  thinking  shall  be  Scrip- 
tural, rational,  profound  and  Christo-centric. 
283 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


.And  now  to  be  practical  (or  is  it  visionary?), 
why  not  forthwitli  acqnire  and  rehal)ilitate  dear 
old  moril)und  Andover,  annex  it  to  Nortlifield, 
and  rededicate  it  to  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity ? 

Educated  Christian  young  men,  sulTer  a 
word  of  exhortation:  Study  for  the  ministry! 
On  your  part  mind  not  meagerness  or  meanness 
of  salary.  When  they  were  devoted  to  His 
and  their  Christ,  in  all  their  varied  tribulations 
— their  wrongs  and  sufferings  at  the  hands  of 
world,  flesh  and  de\\\ — or  the  Church,  God  has 
always  taken  thorough-going  care  of  His  serv- 
ants, and  He  will  care  for  you !  Take  not 
counsel  of  visible  and  superficial,  temporary, 
earth-born  objections ! 

Dr.  Arthur  J.  Brown  said  of  Rev.  Boon-ltt, 
of  Siam  :  "He  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men  I  have  met  in  Asia.  At  the  head  of  his 
'clan,'  whose  family  home  is  in  Bangkok,  he 
is  widely  and  favorably  known  in  the  capital. 
Young  men  like  him  and  resort  to  him  for  ad- 
284 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


vice,  whenever  he  visits  tlie  city.  The  govern- 
ment has  repeatedly  offered  him  lucrative  posts, 
and  I  was  told  by  United  States  ^linister  King, 
that  a  trading  corporation  in  Laos  is  eager  to 
employ  him  at  a  salary  of  $4,000,  gold.  As  a 
minister  of  Christ  he  receives  S650  and  a  tum- 
ble-down native  house,  and  he  woukl  rather  be 
a  missionary  on  those  terms  than  an  official 
or  a  trader  on  a  higher  salary." 

Of  cour.se  he  would,  and  this  is  simply  an 
echo  of  universal  testimony.  In  all  the  ages, 
whenever  a  man  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  filled 
with  intelligent  passion  for  the  Christ  whom, 
in  the  intimacies  of  discipleship  he  has  seen  face 
to  face,  and  actuated  by  a  heaven-born  redemp- 
tion zeal  for  lost  men,  has  chosen  to  be  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  he  has  been  exultingly  glad 
of  it  first  and  last,  even  if  he  did  sacrifice  and 
suffer!  Young  men,  every  great,  every  great- 
est thing.  e\ery  primary,  overtowering  fact  or 
factor  in  heaven  or  on  earth  calls  you — if  God 
will  let  you — calls  you  to  be  a  minister  of 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


Christ!  The  Immanuel  of  all  earthly  life  in 
all  things  is  preeminently,  assuredly  here. 
Thirty  years  ago,  a  dying  missionary,  with 
seventeen  years  of  glad  fidelity  beliind  him,  sud- 
denly aroused  and  to  an  unseen  but  real  audi- 
ence cried : 

"Christian  young  men !  The  responsibility 
of  saving  the  world  rests  on  you  ;  not  on  the  old 
men,  but  on  the  young  men.  It  is  past  the  time 
for  holding  back  and  waiting  for  'Providence.' 
I  used  to  think  a  missionary  ought  to  husband 
his  strength;  but  this  is  a  crisis  in  the  world's 
history,  and  by  keeping  back,  one  may  keep 
others  back.  Wisdom  is  profitable  to  direct,  but 
the  man  that  rushes  to  duty  is  faithful.  At 
times,  promptness  becomes  the  rule  and  caution 
the  exception.  The  Church  is  a  military  com- 
pany ;  an  army  of  conquest,  not  of  occupation." 
Young  Men.  Forward ! 

Listen  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher  who  in  his 
early  home,  and  early  ministry  knew  every 
form  of  poverty  and  strait,  that  couid  deter  a 
286 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Christian  student,  standing  on  the  threshold  of 
the  ministry.  "Men  say  that  the  pulpit  has  run 
its  career  and  that  there  is  but  little  time  before 
it  will  come  to  an  end.  Not  so  long  as  men 
continue  to  be  weak  and  sinful  and  tearful  and 
expectant,  without  any  help  near;  not  so  long 
as  the  world  lieth  in  wickedness ;  not  so  long  as 
there  is  an  asylum  over  and  above  that  one 
which  we  see  with  our  physical  senses ;  not 
until  men  are  transformed  and  the  earth  empty 
— not  until  then,  will  the  work  of  the  Christian 
ministry  cease.  ...  It  is  the  sweetest  in  sub- 
stance, the  most  enduring  in  its  joys,  the  most 
content  in  its  poverty  and  limits  if  your  lot  is 
cast  in  places  of  scarcity,  more  full  of  crowned 
hopes,  more  full  of  whispering  messages  from 
those  gone  before,  nearer  to  the  threshold, 
nearer  to  the  throne,  nearer  to  the  heart  of  Him 
who  was  pierced,  but  who  lives  forever,  and 
says,  'Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also.'  " 

But  first  of  all  the  call  is  to  begin.  As 
Horace  Greeley  said :    '"The  way  to  resume  is 
287 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


to  resume."  And  the  way  to  have  New  Testa- 
ment Christianity  on  tlie  earth,  in  full  New 
Testament  measure  and  according  to  the  con- 
ceptions of  God,  is  to  begin  it — and  begin  it  at 
once  and  at  the  point  of  most  urgent  and  invit- 
ing availability. 

Mrs.  Sage,  Miss  Gould,  John  Wanamaker 
(pardon  the  personality!),  and  the  "one  hun- 
dred richest  men" — "orthodox  church  mem- 
bers" discovered  by  Dr.  Strong,  would  it  not 
I)e  in  the  line  of  a  truly  magnificent  opportunity 
to  provide  at  once  for  say,  seven  New  Testa- 
ment missionaries — to  go  out  under  a  ten  years' 
contract?  Let  them  be  thoughtfully  selected 
by  men  like  John  R.  }iIott,  Robert  E.  Speer 
and  W.  R.  Moody.  Let  there  l)e  perhaps  of 
the  mission  force,  four  married,  two  single,  and 
one  medical — with  one  in  some  sense  a  super- 
intendent. Let  them  go  out  not  only  permitted 
but  obliged  to  take  care  of  themselves,  select 
their  own  field  and  be  their  own  "Secretaries." 
Paul  and  his  fellow  missionaries  were  sent  out 
288 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

and  prayed  for.  by  home  Churches,  but  for  mis- 
.sion  administration  on  the  fiekb  the  Holy  Spirit 
visited  them  (h'rectly.  Above  all  let  the  seven 
be  thoroughly  Christian,  and  not  much  else — 
satisfied  with  and  actuated  by  the  most  intense 
passion  for  the  four  Ends  and  the  four  Means 
of  primitive,  apostolic  piety,  and  to  whom  in 
thought  and  heart  and  life.  Christ  is  "All  and 
in  all"!  Then  let  some  $87,500  be  securely  in- 
vested, subject  to  their  order,  for  salary  and 
travel  expense.  This  means  indeed  a  slight 
advance  over  current  missionary  salaries.  Does 
either  heavenly  bounty  or  earthly  economy  dis- 
countenance this  ?  From  any  point  of  view  can 
the  Church  afford  to  give  less? 

Wise  Andrew  Carnegie,  in  your  just  but  al- 
together novel  apprehension  of  dying  a  rich 
man,  is  there  not  here  a  rare — a  most  inviting 
avenue  of  relief?  Why  not  finance  Organized 
Christianit}'?  Why  not  endow  a  re-baptised 
Andover?   As  a  business  man.  like  John  Hay 

and  a  thousand  others  like-minded.  wIk^  have 
289 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

believed  in  Christianity  but  repudiated  its  all 
overloading  accessories,  you  can  appreciate  ends 
and  means,  economies  and  efficiencies,  facts  and 
principles.  Is  there  any  other  cause  which  in- 
vites your  "means"  for  such  transcendent  ends? 
You  can  appreciate  too  the  melancholy  plight 
of  the  young  men,  who  for  education,  affilia- 
tion, and  a  field,  want  Christianity  and  have 
sectarianism.  You  can  appreciate  the  follow- 
ing from  the  Presbyterian  IVcstminstcr,  of 
Philadelphia  :  "The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is,  we  believe, 
the  institution  which  exhibits  the  most  aggres- 
sive and  wholesome  phase  of  Christianity  to  be 
found  on  the  globe.  It  sounds  no  trumpet 
before  it,  but  acts  and  then  announces.  W'here 
young  men  go.  it  goes.  There  is  no  hesitancy 
or  indecision.  It  looks,  sees,  thinks,  resolves, 
does.  It  must  be  dear  to  God.  The  story  of 
its  accomplishments  is  wonderful.  Here  is  the 
latest  exhibition  of  its  A'igilant  energy.  It  re- 
quired two  years  for  the  Association  to  convince 
the  authorities  there  could  not  be  too  much 
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ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

religion  in  Canal  construction.  But  now  the 
organization  has  a  free  hand.  \\'ithin  three 
months  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  has  contracted  with 
the  Canal  Commission  for  the  erection  in  the 
zone  hy  the  government  of  se\"en  buildings  in 
which,  when  completed,  the  five  thousand  or 
more  young  Americans  in  Panama  may  receive 
instruction,  entertainment,  and  helpful  fellow- 
ship." 

It  is  well  to  build  a  Peace  Palace,  and  libra- 
ries, and  schools  and  colleges.  If  now,  you 
build  up  for  peace  and  truth,  apostolic  Chris- 
tianity, with  all  heaven  co-laboring,  is  it  not 
certain  that  in  due  time  and  quite  rewardingly 
you  will  hear  from  earth  and  heaven  alike 
"Well  done"?  Andrevv  Carnegie,  "Think  on 
these  things" ! 

President  Theodore  Roosevelt  (excuse  the 
impertinence  of  your  Long  Island  neighbor), 
the  editors  and  politicians  are  much  concerned 
about  what  you  shall  do  at  the  close  of  your 
Presidential  career.  This  do,  Mr.  President : 
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ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

Take  up  and  ]nit  through  Organized  Christian- 
ity! It  will  indeed  not  be  as  thonsrh  "some 
strange  thing  had  happened  unto  you." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  said  of  his  noble 
father,  that  to  the  end  of  his  tlays  he  retained 
the  Nimrod  instinct  and  to  the  last  felt  called 
and  moved  to  go  gunning  for  the  devil.  Could 
there  be  a  nobler  "sport"?  And  could  there  be 
a  nobler  plan  of  prosecuting  it,  than  that  of 
indirect  strategy  in  campaigning  Organized 
Christianity?  \\'\\\  this  not  be  surely  con- 
genial to  you  ?  Does  it  not  promise  unfailing 
and  most  gratifying  success? 

You  were  favored  of  Heaven  in  negotiating 
peace  between  two  contending  nations  of  the 
East,  and  arresting  war  and  the  death  and  deso- 
lations of  it.  \y\l\  it  not  be  congenial  to  you, 
by  pure  and  simple.  God-ordered  Christianity, 
to  arrest  the  warring"  animosities,  the  spiritual 
conflicts  of  the  sons  of  men.  and  leading  tlicm 
to  the  "peace  which  passeth  all  understanding," 

2Q2 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIAXITY 


brint^  tlie  tranquillity  and  life  and  love  of 
heaven  down  to  earth  ? 

\\'ill  it  not  be  congenial  to  you  to  look  into 
the  methods  and  transactions  of  that  great  cor- 
poration— the  American  Churcli  ?  Does  not 
this  penurious  and  nigganlly  policy  as  to  the 
ministers  and  their  families  deeply  excite  you? 
^\re  not  alike  your  sense  of  justice,  and  kind- 
ness of  heart  awakened  by  the  spectacle  of  the 
struggling  miseries  of  noble  men  and  gentle 
women  and  children,  which  are  laid  bare  in  the 
story  tliat  the  average  salary  of  the  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  ministers  is  but  seven 
hundred  dollars  a  year?  And  then  for  you  too, 
the  young  men  in  what  they  ought  to  be  and 
want  to  be  as  united  Christians  and  what  they 
must  be  as  separated  denominationalists ! 

Mr.  President,  you  are  alive  to  national  ap- 
peals. The  nations  want  Christianity  and  ask 
for  it.  They  neither  need  nor  want  sectarian- 
ism. 

Paul  was  very  intelligent.    He  would  rather 
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ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

have  been  Apostle  than  President.  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, will  it  not  be  supremely  gratifying  to  you, 
first  and  last,  to  have  been  both  ? 

A.  F.  Schauffler,  John  R.  Mott,  Charles  M. 
Alexander,  Howard  Agnew  Johnston,  John  B. 
Devins  (and  by  the  way,  Dr.  Devins,  why  not 
at  once  re-launch  the  Observer  as  the  organ  of 
Organized  Christianity?).  Robert  E.  Speer,  W. 
R.  Moody,  A.  G.  Moody,  W.  W.  White,  John 
Wanamaker,  William  Phillips  Hall,  Richard 
S.  Holmes,  J.  Ross  Stevenson,  Albert  E.  Keig- 
win,  C.  E.  Jefferson,  A.  C.  Dixon,  Wilton 
Merle  Smith,  and  a  great  multitude  which  no 
man  ought  to  be  able  to  number  :  Is  this  not  the 
time  for  new  thought  and  radically  new  enter- 
prise for  the  restoration  of  Primitive  Chris- 
tianity? Are  not  God  in  heaven  and  all  the 
inhabitants  of  earth  crowding  upon  you  the 
ideals,  the  first  things,  the  supreme  claims,  the 
imperative  commission  of  Primitive  Christian- 
ity ?  And  are  they  not  calling  for  organization 
294 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 

and  intelligent  and  scientific  enterprise  accord- 
ingly ? 

Listen  to  the  denominational  pronouncement 
and  ultimatum :  'AMiat  we  are  used  to,  we 
are  attached  to  and  want,  and  so  it  is  neces- 
sarily normal  and  essential,  and  we  shall  prose- 
cute it  to  the  utmost,  at  all  times,  anywhere, 
anyhow !" 

Listen  to  God's  twentieth  century  proclama- 
tion :  "Them  that  honor  Me,  I  will  honor" — 
and  "You  have  got  to  confess  Christ  before 
men !"' 

Listen  to  the  maxim  of  solution :  "Bible 
principles  to  please  God,  and  business  prin- 
ciples to  win  men !" 

To  quote  from  Mark  Guy  Pearse :  "The 
little  lad  reading  some  story  becomes  en- 
wrapped in  the  fortunes  of  his  hero — difficulties 
and  dangers  thicken  about  him ;  his  safety  is 
threatened  on  all  sides;  how  shall  it  end?  Ex- 
cited and  eager,  he  turns  over  the  pages  and 
looks  further  on.  It  is  all  right ;  the  hero  lives 
295 


ORGANIZED  CHRISTIANITY 


and  triumphs.  Now  the  lad  breathes  again, 
and  with  a  brave  heart  faces  the  course  of  the 
fight  once  more.  We,  hke  the  httle  lad,  have 
sometimes  trembled  for  the  fortunes  of  our 
King.  Then  it  is  good  to  skip  the  pages  of 
time,  and  look  at  the  end.  It  is  all  right.  'Al- 
leluia, the  Lord  God  Omnipotent  reigneth.  The 
kingdoms  of  this  world  are  become  the  King- 
dom of  our  Ix)rd  and  of  His  Christ.  And  He 
shall  reign  forever  and  ever.'  " 

Even  so :  in  the  meantime,  What  ?   Who  ? 


THE  END 


